Switzerland: Shareholders

In addition to preferential rights of all kinds, investors in a start-up are always interested in influencing the future development of the shareholder structure, especially when it comes to the sale of shares. This is mainly regulated by so-called transfer restrictions, which specify how shares in a start-up can be sold and whether under certain circumstances they must even be sold.

On 1 October 2026, Switzerland will introduce new transparency requirements under the Federal Act on the Transparency of Legal Entities and the Identification of Beneficial Owners...

With the new Federal Act on the Transparency of Legal Entities and the Identification of Beneficial Owners (LETA), Switzerland is establishing, for the first time, a central electronic register of the beneficial owners of companies (transparency register). The LETA, the related ordinance (LETO) and the revised Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) will enter into force on 1 October 2026.

Debt does not have a specific definition for Swiss tax purposes, which would differ from its interpretation under Swiss commercial law. However, due to the various forms of debt, different Swiss tax implications can arise depending on the specific type of debt...

In decision 9C_606/2025 of 24 February 2026, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court held that interest expenses on acquisition debt transferred to a target company through a downstream merger are not deductible where they lack a direct nexus to the target’s own business activity.

In der Schweiz werden Dividenden üblicherweise ein mal jährlich im Anschluss an die ordentliche General versammlung ausgeschüttet. Aus logistischen Gründen gilt dies für Publikumsgesellschaften noch stärker als für privat gehaltene Unternehmen.

On 26 September 2025, the Swiss Parliament adopted the Federal Act on the Transparency of Legal Entities and the Identification of Beneficial Owners (the "Legal Entities Transparency Act", "LETA").

After a sharp downturn in 2023, both by deal count and by deal value, the Swiss M&A market showed signs of resilience and recovery in 2024...

Since January 1, 2023, the revised Swiss Company Law has allowed hybrid and fully virtual general meetings (GMs) to be held.