Searching the Companies Register

What you can search for

By typing a term into the search box in the Companies Register, you can search directly for:

• companies on the register — this includes:
  • current companies
  • companies incorporated in other countries and registered to do business in New Zealand
  • companies that have been removed or are in receivership
• the previous names of those companies — although you can't do a specific search for these
• directors of companies — including banned directors and prohibited managers
• shareholders of companies
• property secured against the company on the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR).

Refining your results

You can sort your results alphabetically or by incorporation date.

Advanced search

You can use the advanced search to find specific results for:

• types of companies, including unlimited companies, co-ops and companies on our Overseas Register
• companies incorporated between specific dates
• different types of company addresses — you can further refine the address search by adding a street name, city or postcode
• the status of a company, for example if it's in voluntary administration or receivership
• directors and shareholders, including the type of organisation they're associated with and their status.

You can also start an advanced search by searching the register using any search term. From the list of results, select Show advanced search in the top right of the screen.

Searching for NZ companies

Each result shows the basic details of a company — its name, number, New Zealand Business Number (NZBN), status, registered office and date of incorporation. Select its name to view all the information we have for that company, including:

• current and previous addresses
• the names, addresses and other information about the directors
• the number of shares, the names of shareholders and how many shares they hold
• all the company documents that have been registered with us, including directors' consents, annual returns or a constitution, if the company has one.

Company status

A company's status shows in a search and in the company's details. There are 4 statuses.

1. Registered — means the company is currently registered.
2. In liquidation or In receivership — means that we have received notice that a receiver or liquidator has been appointed to administer this company.
3. Removed — means the company has been removed from the register. You can usually find out why by looking at the registered documents for the company.
4. Approved — means the name that has been reserved, but has yet to be used to start a new company or change the name of an existing company.

Search for a company

Searching for overseas companies

Companies incorporated in other countries and registered to do business in New Zealand are registered on the Overseas Register. This register is part of the New Zealand Companies Register and you can search for specific overseas companies using that search.

You can only find all the companies on the Overseas Register or filter search results to show only overseas companies by doing an advanced search of the Companies Register.

In the advanced search:

• select Entity type
• to find all overseas companies, from the drop-down menu, select:
  • Overseas ASIC company — for all the Australian companies
  • Overseas non-ASIC company — for all companies incorporated in other countries
• select Search to see the results.

Advanced search

Information about overseas companies

You can find the following information about an overseas company:

• the country where it's incorporated and the date of incorporation
• who the directors are
• where in New Zealand its principal place of business is
• if its constitution contains any restrictions on its ability to trade
• where documents can be served on the company in New Zealand and who can receive them.

Searching for directors

You can search for directors by name — using their surname and first name can help to refine the search.

Search results show:

• their full legal name
• their address
• the date they were appointed, and
• their status — whether they're current or ceased (that is, they're no longer a director).

Select the link to Director to:

• find their consent form agreeing to be a director
• see a record of all the directors for that company.

Search for directors or shareholders

Disqualified directors

Information about disqualified directors includes:

• any other names they're known by
• their last known address
• the disqualification period
• the criteria under which they were disqualified — usually Sections 382(1) or 385 of the Companies Act 1993.

Banned directors

Search for a banned director

Searching for shareholders

Search for shareholders by individual or company name.

Search results show their:

• full name or the company name — depending on whether the shareholder is a person or an organisation
• address
• status — whether they're current or removed (that is, no longer a shareholder)
• the number or percentage of shares they hold.

Select the link to Shareholder to see a record of all the shareholdings for that company and how they're allocated.

Search for directors or shareholders

Searching other Companies Office registers

The Companies Office administers more than 25 registers. You can search some of them from the Companies Office website.

Searching our registers

If you have an online services account, you can search the PPSR from the Companies Register.

Searching the PPSR from the Companies Register

Search for a business Search other registers

Using information in search results

You can save up to 1000 search results by:

• printing them out
• saving them as a PDF
• attaching them to an email as a PDF
• exporting them in a CSV file format to further analyse in spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel (or similar).

If your search returns more than 1000 results, try refining your search. If your search still returns over 1000 results you can send us a data request.

Using other applications to search the Companies Register

We offer Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), and a mobile application that lets you search Australian and New Zealand companies at the same time. These can help to streamline your business activities.

Other guides in

Getting support to use the Companies Register

• Uploading documents to the Companies Register
• Filing documents with electronic signatures
• Forgotten your RealMe® username or password
• Searching the PPSR from the Companies Register
• Searching using other applications
• NZBN and the Companies Register
• Suppressing a residential address on the register

Other help topics