SIT-03 / Corporate analytics

Need to find out who owns the company

A counterparty, competitor or subject of a deal is registered to nominee persons, foreign structures or a chain of companies, and it is unclear who actually makes the decisions.

01

Indicators requiring investigation

  • the register lists mass directors or nominee shareholders
  • the ownership chain leads to jurisdictions with closed registers
  • the structure changed shortly before the deal or dispute
  • decisions are effectively made by a person with no formal role
02

What is usually unknown

  • who the ultimate beneficial owner is and whether they appear in available registers
  • what connections link the companies within the group
  • who actually controls the money and assets
  • whether the structure has changed and why
03

What may be established

  • the registered ownership structure according to available registers
  • historical changes in shares, directors and addresses
  • related companies, recurring individuals and addresses
  • indicators of factual control: authority, funding, pledges
  • gaps that cannot be closed by lawful means - stated directly
04

Which methods are permitted

  • corporate registers across several jurisdictions
  • beneficial ownership registers where these are open
  • pledge and court records
  • network analysis of overlaps between individuals, addresses and companies
05

What limitations apply

  • in a number of jurisdictions beneficial ownership data is closed - this is recorded as a gap
  • unconfirmed control is marked as a hypothesis, not a fact
  • BLACKFILE does not declare nominee ownership proven without grounds
06

Process at a glance

  • You name the company and the purpose of identifying the owner.
  • BLACKFILE checks the admissibility and availability of registers.
  • Building the structure and verifying indicators of control.
  • An ownership map with sources, dates and gaps.
07

Relevant services

08

Frequently asked questions

Can the beneficial owner always be identified?

No. If a jurisdiction closes the data, the report honestly records the limit and shows which indicators of control have been established indirectly.

Is this lawful?

Yes: official registers and open sources are used. Unlawful access to closed data is not applied.

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Does this reflect your situation?

Describe it in your own words, without documents or personal data. BLACKFILE will assess whether the matter is acceptable and propose an approach.