What is the central company register in Mauritius and how do I search it?

The Corporate and Business Registration Department (CBRD) is Mauritius's single source for company data. The CBRD online search at onlinesearch.mns.mu is free to use and returns company profiles, office bearers, shareholders, and a printable Company Details Extract as a PDF.

What identifiers do I need to search for a company in the Mauritius CBRD?

Every company in Mauritius has two interchangeable identifiers: the File No., which is a letter prefix followed by digits such as C117853, and the Business Registration Number (BRN). Either identifier will resolve to the same company record.

Is beneficial ownership information available in the public CBRD register?

No. Mauritius requires companies and global business companies to identify and hold beneficial ownership information under anti-money-laundering rules, but that data is filed with authorities rather than published. The CBRD's public search does not expose beneficial ownership, making it the main blind spot when diligencing Mauritius structures.

What shareholder information is publicly available for Global Business Companies in Mauritius?

The CBRD register publishes the immediate shareholders of Global Business Companies along with their stakes, but the ultimate beneficial owners behind layered ownership structures are not publicly disclosed. This means the people behind multi-layer GBC structures are usually not visible from public sources.

Business Registers in Mauritius: the CBRD Register

Overview

Mauritius keeps its company information with the Corporate and Business Registration Department (CBRD), the central company register, which sits under the Ministry of Finance. The CBRD runs a public online search that returns company profiles, office bearers, shareholders, and a printable extract. It is the single source for company data in the country.

Mauritius is a significant international financial centre, and much of its company population is made up of Global Business Companies (GBC) and Authorised Companies, licensed under the Financial Services Act and often used to route cross-border investment, frequently denominated in US dollars rather than the local rupee. Confidentiality is a defining feature of the regime, which shapes KYB work. The CBRD's online search confirms that a company exists and shows its core details, and for some companies its officers, but director, secretary, and shareholding records are treated as confidential and are not released to third parties without the company's consent. This is strongest for the global business and authorised companies the jurisdiction is built around, whose fuller records require the company's authorisation. Ultimate beneficial ownership is collected by the authorities under the anti-money-laundering framework but is not published. So for the layered global-business structures Mauritius is known for, the people behind a company are usually not visible from public sources.

Official Registers

CBRD Online Search

The CBRD operates under the Companies Act 2001, and its records sit in the Companies and Business Registration Integrated System (CBRIS), with the public search at cbris.mns.global. A free search confirms the company name, legal form, status, registration date, and identifiers. Fuller details, including the complete list of directors and shareholders and certified document copies, are treated as confidential: they go to the company, its representatives, and authorised parties, or to a third party with the company's consent or on a written request to the Registrar for a fee. A Company Details Extract is available as a PDF.

Every company has two interchangeable identifiers, and a search accepts either. The File No. is a letter prefix followed by digits, such as `C117853`, where `C` marks a company. The Business Registration Number (BRN) is the other identifier used for the same entity. Supplying either one resolves to the same company.

Mauritius does not use a national activity classification, so a company's sector is recorded as a free-text description of the nature of business rather than a structured code.

Beneficial Ownership

Mauritius requires companies, and global business companies in particular, to identify and hold beneficial ownership information under its financial-services and anti-money-laundering rules. That information is filed with the authorities rather than published, and the public search does not expose it. Beneficial ownership therefore cannot be retrieved from the public register, which is the main blind spot when diligencing a Mauritius structure. The regime is being actively enforced: in 2025 the Financial Services Commission revoked more than 25 authorised-company licences, a signal that the global-business sector is under closer scrutiny.

Registration and Publication Requirements

Domestic Companies

A private company is the standard domestic limited liability form, and a public company is used for larger and listed businesses. Both register with the CBRD, which holds their office bearers, including directors, the company secretary, and the auditor, and their shareholders. For private companies these details are confidential and not disclosed to third parties without consent; public companies carry broader disclosure by their nature.

Global Business Companies

A Global Business Company (GBC), and the related Authorised Company, are licensed under the Financial Services Act and are the vehicles most associated with Mauritius as a conduit for international investment, with stated capital often in US dollars. Their detailed director and shareholder records are confidential and released only with the company's authorisation, and the ultimate beneficial owner behind them is not public. Since these structures are frequently used in multi-layer ownership chains, they are the hardest Mauritius entities to see through from public sources.

Foreign Companies

A foreign company operating in Mauritius registers as a branch, with a local representative recorded in the register. The parent remains governed by its home jurisdiction, and shareholder data may be limited.

Summary

Entity type	Register with CBRD	Ownership disclosure	Beneficial owners public
Private company (domestic)	Yes	Confidential without consent	No
Public company (domestic)	Yes	Broader disclosure	No
Global Business Company / Authorised Company	Yes	Confidential (authorisation required)	No
Foreign company (branch)	Yes	Limited	No

With Topograph

Topograph retrieves Mauritian company data from the CBRD.

Available Data

Company Profile

Legal name with the File No. and Business Registration Number
Legal form, such as private company, public company, or global business company, with a standardized English category
Status, including live, dormant, struck off, winding up, and dissolved
Registered address and stated capital, in Mauritian rupees or, for global business companies, often US dollars
Business activity description, with NACE and ISIC codes inferred by AI from that description

Legal Representatives

Office bearers recorded in the register, including directors, the company secretary, and the auditor, where the register exposes them; resigned officers are excluded

Shareholders

Shareholders with their share count and percentage, both individual and corporate, where the register exposes them. For private companies and for global business and authorised companies, these details are confidential and may not be available

Available Documents

Document type	Comment
Trade Register Extract	The CBRD Company Details Extract, a printable PDF of the company's register record

Activity codes are inferred by AI from the free-text nature-of-business description, since the register has no national classification. Director and shareholder details are confidential for private companies and for global business and authorised companies, so they may not be available, and ultimate beneficial ownership is not published. For layered global-business structures, the ultimate owners are generally not retrievable from public sources.

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