Can an unincorporated trust be a shareholder?
No. Under section 92 of the Companies Act 1993, ‘no notice of a trust, whether express, implied, or constructive, may be entered on the share register’ and, by extension, on the companies register.
The reason for this is that a company should know the names of those that it deals with rather than have knowledge of what is essentially a private relationship between shareholders.
If a trust, such as a family trust, holds shares in a company, then you must list, in the company’s share register and on the companies register, the names and residential addresses of the trustees as joint holders of the shares, rather than the name of the trust itself.
Trusts registered under certain Acts (for example, the Charitable Trusts Act 1957 and the Te Ture Whenua Maori Act (Maori Land Act) 1993) are legal entities and can hold shares.
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