A societas Europaea (Latin pronunciation: [/soˈki.e.taːs/ /ew.roːˈpae.a/] SE; Latin: European society or company; plural: societates Europaeae) is a public company registered in accordance with the corporate law of the European Union (EU), introduced in 2004 with the Council Regulation on the Statute for a European Company. Such a company may more easily transfer to or merge with companies in other member states.
2,827 registrations have been reported as of 14 August 2017, including the following nine components (18%) of the Euro Stoxx 50 of leading Euro Area companies (excluding the SE designation): Airbus, Allianz, BASF, E.ON, Fresenius, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, SAP, Schneider Electric and Unibail-Rodamco.
National law continues to supplement the basic rules in the Regulation on formation and mergers. The European Company Regulation is complemented by an Employee Involvement Directive that sets rules for participation by employees on the company's board of directors. There is also a statute allowing European Cooperative Societies.
The Statute provides four ways of forming a European limited company: