I was wondering if anyone has come against this issue? We need to register a foreign company (Branch) however the name that is registered in Hong Kong is not available to use in Australia. Does this mean that the HK entity needs to change name to one available here in order to register it?
We recently had the same issue for a New Zealand company.
When registering it in Australia we needed to change the Australian registered name of the Company needed to differ by adding a small difference.
As an example:
“ABC Limited” became “ABC Aust Limited” but maintained its name in New Zealand.
Linda from the Foreign Company Team at ASIC was very specific and helpful in her guidance but it did take us approximately 4 months to reach a conclusion. She advised that ours was one of the less complicated experiences!
Thanks Julie. That is a great help. Do you have Linda’s contact details?
Unfortunately she is not contactable directly. However, if you include a phone number on your forms and the form or supporting docs need attention, she will be in contact! 