Company owners
Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.openregister.de/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Retrieve the owners of a company
Get detailed ownership information including shareholders, their ownership percentages, and share capital. This endpoint provides structured ownership data extracted from official register documents including shareholder lists (Gesellschafterlisten) and company registers. Cost: 10 credits (20 credits withrealtime=true)
Supported Legal Forms
Ownership data is available for the following legal forms:- GmbH (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung) - Limited liability company
- KG (Kommanditgesellschaft) - Limited partnership
- e.K. (eingetragener Kaufmann) - Registered merchant
- eGbR (eingetragene Gesellschaft bürgerlichen Rechts) - Registered civil law partnership
- OHG (Offene Handelsgesellschaft) - General partnership
Ownership Data Structure
The response includes each owner’s type (natural person, German company, foreign company, etc.), their ownership stake (as percentage and/or nominal shares), and their share class (e.g., Komplementär, Kommanditist for KG structures). For corporate shareholders, you’ll receive the company ID to retrieve further details.Use Cases
Ownership Analysis: Understand who controls a company and identify indirect ownership through corporate shareholders. Map ownership chains to reveal corporate structures. Risk Assessment: Identify concentration of ownership, related party transactions, or complex ownership structures that may require additional scrutiny. Network Mapping: Track ownership connections between companies to identify business groups, family holdings, or corporate networks.Authorizations
API Key Authentication Provide your API key as a Bearer token in the Authorization header.
Path Parameters
Unique company identifier. Example: DE-HRB-F1103-267645
Query Parameters
Get the most up-to-date company information directly from the Handelsregister. When set to true, we fetch the latest data in real-time from the official German commercial register, ensuring you receive the most current company details. Note: Real-time requests take longer but guarantee the freshest data available.
Setting this to true will return the owners of the company if they exist but will skip processing the documents in case they weren't processed yet.
When set to true, returns the best available owner data for AG and SE companies. This data is extracted from Handelsregister documents and may not reflect the most current ownership state, as these document types are not filed on every ownership change. Requests for AG/SE companies without this flag return 404. Note: realtime and best_available cannot be used together at the moment.
Response
The owners of the company
Unique company identifier. Example: DE-HRB-F1103-267645
Sources of the company owners data.
When true, the returned owner data is the best available but may not reflect the most current ownership state. This applies to AG and SE companies where ownership data is sourced from Handelsregister decision and articles of association documents, which are not filed on every ownership change.

