Germany’s Equivalent to Companies House, Explained

At Beauhurst, we recently expanded our company data into the German private company market —meaning our subscribers can now search for UK and German private company data on our platform. As a result, we’re now experts in both Companies House and the German equivalents.

In this article, we’ll break down the key details you need to know about the Handelsregister, the Bundesanzeiger — the German company registers — and the Unternehmensregister, where you can access information from both registers.

We’ll explain everything you need to know about German equivalents of Companies House, how they are structured, how the UK and German registers compare, and how to use Beauhurst to access company data more easily.

How does company registration work in Germany?

Germany does not have a direct 1:1 comparison with Companies House, because the administrative structure of the country works differently.

Companies House is a centralised system run by the UK government, whereas Germany’s federal system means that company registration is divided into individual registers, governed by local courts (known as Amtsgericht) within each state.

In practice, this means that a company incorporated in Bavaria must register with the local court in Bavaria. The Handelsregister combines information from all of these courts, forming the German commercial register.

What is the Handelsregister?

The Handelsregister records all essential legal information about businesses in Germany that must register. If a company is set up as a commercial enterprise, it must be registered with the Handelsregister — just as limited companies are required to register with Companies House.

Information reported in the Handelsregister includes:

1) Company name
2) Legal form
3) Directors
4) Registered address
5) Business status

What is the Bundesanzeiger?

The Bundesanzeiger, Germany’s federal gazette, is where legally mandated company announcements and filings are published.

These include annual financial statements, insolvency notices, capital market disclosures (such as shareholder notifications), and official announcements from regulatory authorities.

Where the Handelsregister is the commercial register for company incorporations, the Bundesanzeiger is where users can find relevant information on significant events and data on the company.

What is the Unternehmensregister?

Run by the German Federal Ministry of Justice, the Unternehmensregister is a centralised public tool that consolidates company data from a number of sources including the Handelsregister and the Bundzanzeiger.

In essence, the Unternehmensregister is where you would go to find aggregated company information, not dissimilar to Companies House.

Where they differ, however, is in accessibility. Companies House allows API access to its data — meaning its data is available to be used —but that isn’t possible in Germany.

The Unternehmensregister requires a small fee for accessing companies’ annual financial statements. This selective access ensures that only those who need the data, access it.

The limitations of the Handelsregister, Bundesanzeiger, and Unternehmensregister

As with other public company registers, there are challenges when it comes to navigating the data.

1. Unstructured information sources

A dated user interface can make looking for specific company details challenging. And because Germany’s registry system requires users to navigate multiple databases to find what they need, even simple searches can be time-consuming.

2. Language barriers

For non-German speakers, the registers present an additional layer of complexity. Navigating the register likely requires fluency in German — or a good translator.

3. Time-consuming financial analysis

Understanding a company’s growth trajectory or financial performance requires workarounds, as the information is not available natively within the register. Instead, users have to download specific filings, manually extract data and structure it in a spreadsheet or BI tool.

This manual approach is time-consuming and prone to human error, which is why our clients use the Beauhurst platform.

4. The challenge of ultimate beneficial ownership (UBO)

Identifying the UBO through public registers is impractical for larger corporate structures — something which Companies House users will also be familiar with.

You’ll need to download a company’s shareholder register, pinpoint the majority shareholder, search the register for that entity, open their shareholder register, and repeat the process until you reach the top of the chain.

At Beauhurst, we map entire corporate trees onto a single page, saving time and removing guesswork from due diligence. And with rich data on both UK and German companies, you can seamlessly navigate between both countries’ registries.

The alternative to Germany’s public company register: Beauhurst

Clients come to Beauhurst for specific company insights, and stay for the ease of access and added value that comes with timely, well-structured data.

Here are just a handful of reasons why they recommend Beauhurst over Companies House and Germany’s closest equivalents.

Curated coverage, consolidated in one place

From company financials to investment figures, and the ability to map the entire German economy, our platform delivers total coverage of a company’s activity — all in one, easily navigable place.

This means no more hopping between registers or cross-referencing out-of-date spreadsheets, saving hours of research into corporate structures.

Company updates, as they happen

The Beauhurst platform is constantly updating. Be the first to know when a company secures funding, expands its team, launches a new product, or enters a new market.