English equivalent to "Briefkastenfirma"?

[Torsten]

Hi,

I've just been asked by a group of Germans if there's an equivalent to the German expression "Briefkastenfirma". It seems to me that this is a typical German phenomenon and although there is the English term "shell corporation" I doubt that this is a widely used in English as is its German counterpart.

Can you shed some light on this please?
Thank you so much,
Torsten
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Jamie (K)]

I think we often say, "The company is only a P.O. box." Dict.cc gives two definitions, one plausible and one implausible. The plausible one is "phantom company", but I don't get any real hits on Google with that meaning.

"Shell company" maybe be your best bet. Here's what Investopedia.com says about that:

[Torsten]

Hi Jamie,

Thanks a lot for your response which you posted in record time. What would you say is the percentage of Americans who know the term "shell company"? I'm asking because I'd reckon that at least 80% of all Germans would know the expression "Briefkastenfirma".
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Jamie (K)]

I think almost all Americans would have some sense of what a "shell company" is, even if they'd never heard the term.

However, I've just remembered the more common, universally understood term for it. We most often say "front company"; "front" there as in façade.

[Yankee]

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There's also something called a "dummy corporation/company", which I'd say would also be pretty universally understood over here.
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