SrlvsSPA— What's the difference?

Srl (Società A Responsabilità Limitata) and SPA (Società Per Azioni) are both business entity forms. The core distinction is ownership: Srl is private while SPA is public.

At a glance

AttributeSrlSPA
Full nameSocietà A Responsabilità LimitataSocietà Per Azioni
LanguageItalianItalian
Entity typeprivate limited liabilitypublic limited liability
LiabilityLimitedLimited
OwnershipPrivatePublic (can list shares)
Countries22 jurisdictions5 jurisdictions

Key differences

OwnershipSrl is privately held — shares cannot be publicly listed. SPA is eligible for public listing on a stock exchange.
StructureSrl is a private limited liability company. SPA is a public limited liability company.

Where each is used

Both used in

CL · ChileDZ · AlgeriaFR · FranceIT · ItalyMA · Morocco

Srl only

AR · ArgentinaCI · Côte d’IvoireDO · Dominican RepublicES · SpainLB · LebanonLU · LuxembourgMC · MonacoMD · Moldova+9 more

Normalizing Srl and SPA in your data

When deduplicating company records, both suffixes are noise — “Acme Srl” and “Acme SPA” should resolve to the same entity. The Ambect API strips either suffix at the legal_suffix stage and records it separately:

Both normalize to the same canonical
// "Acme Srl" → canonical: "acme srl"
// "Acme SPA" → canonical: "acme"

Frequently asked questions

What is the main difference between Srl and SPA?

Srl is a private limited liability company, while SPA is a public limited liability company. The key difference is ownership structure — Srl is private while SPA is public.

Is Srl the same as SPA?

No. Srl is a private limited liability company (limited liability, private) while SPA is a public limited liability company (limited liability, public).

Which countries use both Srl and SPA?

Both suffixes appear in Chile, Algeria, France, Italy, Morocco.

How does Ambect normalize Srl and SPA?

The Ambect API strips both suffixes at the `legal_suffix` pipeline stage, recording each as `legal_type` in the response. This means "Acme Srl" and "Acme SPA" both normalize to the canonical token "acme", enabling cross-suffix deduplication.

Explore each suffix

Need to normalize Srl and SPA records across the same dataset? The Ambect API handles both in a single call.

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