A holding is not a separate legal form: it is a company (usually an SAS or a SARL) whose purpose is to own stakes in other companies. It is the standard way to organise several businesses, reinvest profits across them, and separate accumulated wealth from operating risk.
In brief
- Legal form
- Usually an SAS or SARL
- Role
- Owns and steers stakes in subsidiaries
- Liability
- Limited to contributions (per the chosen form)
- Taxation
- Can elect the parent-subsidiary regime and, at ≥95% ownership, tax consolidation
- Best paired with
- Two or more operating companies, or significant reinvestment
Advantages
- Groups the ownership of several companies under one clean structure.
- Parent-subsidiary regime: dividends received from subsidiaries are largely exempt.
- Tax consolidation possible when the holding owns at least 95%.
- Easier to reinvest profits across the group and to raise debt at group level.
- Separates operating risk from accumulated wealth, and helps organise succession.
Trade-offs
- Added complexity and running costs, extra accounting and filings.
- Requires genuine substance and proper governance to hold up.
- Rarely worth it for a single small activity.
Best for
Entrepreneurs running several businesses, reinvesting profits, or organising assets and succession across a group.
Frequently asked questions
When is a holding worth setting up?
Typically once you run more than one company, plan to reinvest profits between activities, or want to organise ownership and succession. For a single small business it usually adds cost without benefit.
What form should the holding take?
Most are SAS (for flexibility) or SARL. The right choice depends on governance, who the shareholders are, and the manager’s social scheme, worth deciding with an advisor.