(1) Where the majority of the shares in a legally independent enterprise belongs to some other enterprise, or where some other enterprise is entitled to the majority of the voting rights (majority interest), the legally independent enterprise is an enterprise in which a majority ownership interest is held, while the other enterprise is an enterprise holding a majority of the ownership interest in same.
(2) The question of which portion of the shares belongs to an enterprise is determined, for share capital companies, based on the ratio between the aggregate nominal amount of the shares owned by the enterprise and the nominal capital of the company limited by shares, and for companies that have issued no-par-value shares, it is determined based on the number of shares of stock. Treasury shares are to be left unconsidered in determining the nominal capital of share capital companies, and in determining the number of shares of stock in companies that have issued no-par-value shares. Those shares that belong to some other party for the account of the enterprise are equivalent to treasury shares of the enterprise.
(3) The portion of the voting rights to which an enterprise is entitled is determined based on the ratio between the number of voting rights that the enterprise may exercise based on the shares belonging to it and the aggregate number of all voting rights. The voting rights conferred by treasury shares and by shares that are equivalent to treasury shares according to subsection (2) sentence 3 are not to be included in the aggregate number of all voting rights.
(4) Shares will be considered treasury shares of an enterprise also if they belong to an enterprise controlled by that enterprise, or if they belong to another party for the account of that enterprise, or for the account of an enterprise under its control; where the owner of the enterprise is a sole trader, those shares forming the owner’s other assets likewise will be considered treasury shares.