To align with the marketing strategies / to reflect the change of ownership and business activities, a limited company incorporated in Hong Kong may change its name by following the below procedure.
Procedure
Propose a new name that is not identical / similar to a name of an existing company.
Obtain at least 75% of the shareholders approval on the adoption of new name.
Attend to statutory filing within 15 days after obtaining the shareholder approval.
To receive a Certificate of Change of Name and new Business Registration Certificate.
Update the name on the company's Articles of Association.
Time frame
Starting from the shareholders approval date, it normally takes 1 - 2 weeks to obtain the Certificate of Change of Name and a new Business Registration Certificate.
Cost
The professional service fee is around HKD2,500 - HKD4,000 on average (covering the statutory filing fee of HKD295). Companies with more shareholders may face a higher service fee.
or
Before and after the change of name
Before
A company may choose to change the English name / Chinese name / both English and Chinese names, yet the new name(s) should follow certain rules:-
A name with a combination of English words / letters and Chinese characters is not allowed;
An English name must end with the word “Limited” and a Chinese name must end with the characters “有限公司”; and
A Chinese name should contain traditional Chinese characters (繁體字) that can be found in the Kang Xi Dictionary (康熙字典) or Ci Hai Dictionary (辭海) and also in the ISO 10646 international coding standard. Simplified Chinese characters is currently not being accepted.
Some companies may have one or more business name which is a name separate from the legal corporate name. If the company wants to change the business name as well, a separate filing with the business registration office is needed.
After
Please be reminded to update the company's banks on the new name, otherwise, your clients and business partners may feel confused when making payment to or receiving funds from your company.
In addition, if the the company is a licensed company (e.g. in finance, F&B and human resource industry), you may need to update relevant authorities on the change of name.
Finally, the company is required to make sure their corporate communications (e.g. letters, emails and business card etc.) have the new company name printed thereon.