Within the Ownership tab in a Company Report, you will see a Controlling Owners tab. 


Controlling Owners show who is really in control of a company whether that's a direct shareholder, an ultimate beneficial owner, or the head of a wider corporate group. Depending on the country, the data will come from different sources. We draw on three sources in order of reliability: Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO) filings, shareholder records, and group structure data. Where UBO data exists, it takes precedence. This data is updated daily. 


Below are details of what countries Controlling Ownership data is available for, and where this information comes from: 


  • UK/Ireland: Data sourced from Companies House.
  • Germany: Data sourced from the German Federal Gazette.
  • Netherlands: Data sourced from the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce.
  • France:  Data sourced from the Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle (INPI).
  • Italy: Data sourced from the Italian Chambers of Commerce.
  • Austria: Data sourced from the Austrian Business Register.
  • Belgium: Data sourced from the Official State Gazette.
  • Luxembourg: Data sourced from the Luxembourg Business Register. 
  • US/Canada: Data sourced from the Group Structure.


If Controlling Ownership is not available for a company, you will not see any data. 



Understanding the Detailed View page: 


When you click on the Ownership tab, you will be taken to the Detailed View page. The Detailed View is split into four key areas: 

  • Ultimate Controlling Owners: The persons or entities identified as sitting at the top of the ownership structure and ultimately controlling the company or wider group. In Creditsafe, these are derived using available UBO register data, shareholder data, and group structure data, and may represent either a person or a company depending on the data available. There will be Source and Ownership details of this data. 
  • Immediate Controlling Owners: The persons or entities identified as directly controlling the company being viewed (subject company), usually through direct ownership or parent-company control. In Creditsafe, these are derived using available UBO register data, shareholder data, and group structure data, and may represent either a person or a company depending on the data available.
  • Other Persons with Significant Control: UK-specific persons or entities who have significant control through means other than share ownership, such as voting rights or another declared nature of control. These are shown in the Detailed View rather than the Visual View.
  • Direct Lineage:  A simplified view of the company’s ownership chain, showing how the subject company links through parent companies up to the ultimate holding company.


You can click on a company in the Direct Lineage area and you will be taken to the company report of that business. 


Understanding the Visual View:


The Visual View provides a graphical representation of a company's ownership structure, making it easier to understand who controls a business and how ownership flows through the corporate hierarchy.



Direct Lineage: The center of the diagram displays the company's direct lineage, showing the ownership chain from the Subject Company at the bottom through to the Ultimate Holding Company at the top, where available.

Depending on the ownership structure, the direct lineage may include:

  • The Subject Company
  • The Immediate Parent Company
  • One or more Intermediate Companies
  • The Ultimate Holding Company

Not every ownership structure contains all of these levels. For example:

  • Some companies may have only one parent company above them, meaning the Immediate Parent Company and Ultimate Holding Company are the same entity.
  • Some companies may not have any parent companies above them at all. In these cases, the company is either an independent business or already sits at the top of its corporate group.

For each company shown in the direct lineage, the Visual View displays the company name, country and Safe Number (where available).

 

Controlling Owners: The diagram also displays identified Controlling Owners, helping users understand who ultimately or immediately exercises ownership or control.

  • Immediate Controlling Owners are displayed alongside the Immediate Parent Company level.
  • Ultimate Controlling Owners are displayed above the Ultimate Holding Company level.
  • In some cases, the Ultimate Holding Company itself may also be identified as the Ultimate Controlling Owner.

Where multiple controlling owners meet the ownership threshold, all qualifying controlling owners will be displayed.

 

Ownership Information: For every identified Controlling Owner, the Visual View displays:

  • The controlling owner's name
  • The source of the ownership information
  • The ownership percentage, where available

Sources may include official UBO registers, shareholder data or group structure data, depending on the country and available information.

 

Labels and Additional Information: To help interpret the diagram, key nodes are labelled as:

  • Subject Company
  • Immediate Parent
  • Ultimate Holding

Users can also hover over a node to see whether it has been identified as:

  • An Immediate Controlling Owner
  • An Ultimate Controlling Owner
  • Neither

This allows users to quickly distinguish between companies that form part of the ownership chain and entities that have been identified as controlling owners.