A company can change its status by re-registration. This may be from a private company to a public company and vice versa, from a private limited company to an unlimited company and vice versa or from a public company to an unlimited private company.

Private to public

The most usual reason for a company to re-register from private to public is to raise capital. As a private company it cannot issue securities to the public (s. 755), and funds can be raised only from private issues of shares or loan capital. When this becomes restrictive and a barrier to growth, a company may decide to go public.