Cognised existence: Corporate ownership is the web of control relationships that connects natural persons and legal entities to the enterprises they own, govern, or benefit from. It is a directed graph — not a flat table — where chains of ownership can run through multiple intermediate companies before reaching a beneficial owner.
Question: Who owns, controls, or governs a firm?
What is Ownership and Governance?
Ownership and governance are not single attributes. They form a layered graph of legal ownership (who the registered owner is), beneficial ownership (who ultimately controls or benefits), capital relationships, and governance (who manages and makes decisions). Many regulatory frameworks distinguish these layers explicitly, and business registries often model them as separate entity types.
Realisations
1. CVR (CentraleVirksomhedsregister) — Ownership Entities
The sole authoritative realisation in Denmark. CVR records ownership through a rich set of relation entities.
Spatial Access Path
ejerforhold / reelejerrelation / legalejerrelation
│ FK: CVREnhedsId → target Virksomhed
▼
Virksomhed
│ FK: → Adressering → DAR join chain
│ adresse → husnummer → adgangspunkt.position
▼
adgangspunkt.position (point geometry via DAR)
No native geometry. Ownership is a graph structure. To map it spatially, join through the owned/owning entity to its address, then through the Addresses join chain to coordinates.
Ownership Graph Structure
Person A ──owns 60%──► Company B ──owns 100%──► Company C
──owns 40%──► Company D
Person E ──board member──► Company B
Analysis typically requires recursive traversal or graph queries. Ownership chains can run through multiple intermediate entities (holding companies, foundations, foreign entities).
Key Entities
| Entity | Role |
|---|---|
| |ejerforhold | Direct ownership relationships |
| |reelejerrelation | Beneficial (real) ownership — who ultimately controls the entity |
| |legalejerrelation | Legal ownership chain |
| |andendeltager | Other participants in ownership structures |
| |fuldtansvarligdeltagerrelation | Fully liable participant relations |
| |ledelse | Management and board members |
| |ledelserelation | Management role assignments |
| |kapitalforhold | Capital share structure |
Key Attributes
| Attribute | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
ejerandel | Ownership share (%) | May be a range rather than exact figure |
stemmeandel | Voting share (%) | May differ from ownership share |
rollebeskrivelse | Role description | Danish: “Direktion”, “Bestyrelse”, “Stifter” |
CVREnhedsId | Identifier linking to the owned entity | Stable join key |
Legal vs Beneficial Ownership
| Layer | Entity | What it captures |
|---|---|---|
| Legal ownership | legalejerrelation | Formal registered owner on paper |
| Beneficial ownership | reelejerrelation | Natural person who ultimately controls or benefits |
| Management | ledelse / ledelserelation | Directors, board members, executive roles |
For compliance and AML analysis, beneficial ownership is the critical chain. For corporate structure mapping, all three layers matter.
Access
- GraphQL: Datafordeleren GraphQL — ownership relation entities are queryable with nested fields
- File Download: Download multiple relation entities and join locally by
CVREnhedsId - Note: Some ownership data (especially involving natural persons) has access restrictions via CVRPerson
Why Only One Realisation?
Corporate ownership in Denmark is a legally defined relationship recorded exclusively in CVR by Erhvervsstyrelsen. Unlike addresses or buildings, there is no alternative data source that independently records who owns Danish companies. OSM does not capture ownership. DST publishes aggregated firm demographics but not ownership chains.
The EU Business Registers Interconnection System (BRIS) may eventually provide cross-border ownership data, but it is not yet integrated into the Danish data landscape.
Classical Theme References
| Standard | Theme | Link |
|---|---|---|
| INSPIRE | Production and Industrial Facilities | |Production and Industrial Facilities |
Temporal Model
Ownership is bitemporal. Ownership stakes change over time through acquisitions, mergers, and restructuring. Historical ownership analysis requires careful virkningFra/virkningTil filtering. Each ownership relation entity carries independent registration and effect periods.
Realised By Links
- CentraleVirksomhedsregister (collection)
- Skatteforvaltningens Virksomhedsregister (collection)
Realised By Links
- CentraleVirksomhedsregister (collection)
- Skatteforvaltningens Virksomhedsregister (collection)