For the radio station formerly known as KGAA, see KARR (AM)

KARR (AM)

KARR is a radio station in Kirkland, Washington. The station primarily plays gospel music and broadcasts to the Seattle metro area. It is a member of the Family Radio network....

Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien – abbreviated KGaA – is a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 corporate

Corporation

A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...

 designation standing for 'partnership limited by shares', a form of corporate organization roughly equivalent to a master limited partnership

Master limited partnership

Master limited partnership is a limited partnership that is publicly traded on a securities exchange. It combines the tax benefits of a limited partnership with the liquidity of publicly traded securities....

. A Kommanditgesellschaft

Kommanditgesellschaft

A Kommanditgesellschaft is the German name for a limited partnership business entity and is used in German, Austrian and some other European legal systems....

 auf Aktien has two types of participators. It has at least one partner with unlimited liability (Komplementär). It is in that sense a private company. Komplementärs are natural person

Natural person

Variously, in jurisprudence, a natural person is a human being, as opposed to an artificial, legal or juristic person, i.e., an organization that the law treats for some purposes as if it were a person distinct from its members or owner...

s or legal persons. If the Komplementär is a corporation with limited liability then the type of the company has to be named as GmbH & Co. KGaA, Limited & Co. KGaA or AG & Co. KGaA.

The investment of the partner

Partnership

A partnership is an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests.Since humans are social beings, partnerships between individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments, and varied combinations thereof, have always been and remain commonplace...

s with limited liability

Limited liability

Limited liability is a concept where by a person's financial liability is limited to a fixed sum, most commonly the value of a person's investment in a company or partnership with limited liability. If a company with limited liability is sued, then the plaintiffs are suing the company, not its...

 (Kommanditisten) is the stock of the company (Grundkapital) and divided into shares. A KGaA is in that aspect comparable with a German Aktiengesellschaft

Aktiengesellschaft

Aktiengesellschaft is a German term that refers to a corporation that is limited by shares, i.e. owned by shareholders, and may be traded on a stock market. The term is used in Germany, Austria and Switzerland...

.

The investment of all partners is the corporate's total capital (Gesamtkapital). The KGaA is a traditional type of very large family business

Family business

A family business is a business in which one or more members of one or more families have a significant ownership interest and significant commitments toward the business’ overall well-being....

 (that are partly publicly traded) in Germany.

Examples

• Henkel
  Henkel
  Henkel AG & Co. KGaA is an multinational company headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany.The company operates in three business areas: Home Care , Personal Care ,...
  
   KGaA is a DAX
  DAX
  The DAX is a blue chip stock market index consisting of the 30 major German companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Prices are taken from the electronic Xetra trading system...
  
   listed household products company founded in 1876. Henkel's CEO and members of the Henkel family are partners with unlimited liability.
• Merck KGaA
  Merck KGaA
  Merck KGaA is a German chemical and pharmaceutical company. Merck, also known as “German Merck” and “Merck Darmstadt”, was founded in Darmstadt, Germany, in 1668, making it the world's oldest operating chemical and pharmaceutical company. The company was privately owned until going public in 1995...
  
  is a DAX listed chemical and pharmaceutical company founded in 1668. Partner with unlimited liability is the E. Merck OHG
  General partnership
  In the commercial and legal parlance of most countries, a general partnership or simply a partnership, refers to an association of persons or an unincorporated company with the following major features:...
  
  . Members of the Merck family and the CEO of the Merck KGaA are partners of the E. Merck OHG and therefore unlimited liable.
• Borussia Dortmund
  Borussia Dortmund
  Ballspielverein Borussia Dortmund, commonly BVB, are a German sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. Dortmund are one of the most successful clubs in German football history. Borussia Dortmund play in the Bundesliga, the top league of German football...
  
   GmbH & Co. KGaA is the only German football business publicly traded on stock market. Partner with unlimited liability is the Borussia Dortmund Geschäftsführungs-GmbH which is owned by the Borussia Dortmund Football Club.
• Arcor
  Arcor (Telecommunications)
  Arcor is the second-largest fixed phone line provider in Germany. The company has been renamed to Vodafone AG & Co. KG on 8/1/2009. It is owned solely by Vodafone since May 2008, when Deutsche Bahn and Deutsche Bank sold their shares to Vodafone.# Its headquarters are in Eschborn near Frankfurt...
  
   AG & Co. KGaA is KGaA where the partner with unlimited liability is an Aktiengesellschaft
  Aktiengesellschaft
  Aktiengesellschaft is a German term that refers to a corporation that is limited by shares, i.e. owned by shareholders, and may be traded on a stock market. The term is used in Germany, Austria and Switzerland...
  
  .
• Hella (company)
  Hella (company)
  Hella KGaA Hueck & Co. is an internationally operating German automotive part supplier with headquarters in Lippstadt, North Rhine-Westphalia. Core businesses are vehicle lighting and electronics systems and components. Hella is also involved in the areas of vehicle diagnostics and thermal...
  
  
• FALKE KGaA (company)