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Find who runs and owns a company

4 tools. 3 run with ot in a sandbox on Windows, macOS and Linux; 1 with otlite on Linux and macOS, no Docker. Compare them side by side ↓

Company registers record who a company's directors and officers are and, in many countries, who controls it. The tools below read those records from UK Companies House and the German commercial register, screen the names against sanctions and politically exposed person lists, and find the employees who name the company on LinkedIn.

With ot, in a sandbox

All company tools →

Windows, macOS and Linux, with Docker or Podman. Each tool runs in a read-only container that can reach only the sites it declares, and every result comes back in the same JSON shape.

osintverse-community/companies-house

Searches the UK Companies House register: companies, their status and office, officers and controlling owners

Takes company → finds location, organization, person
Key required · Docker
Verified publisher

osintverse-community/handelsregister

Looks up a German company's commercial register entry through handelsregister.ai: officers, filings, financials

Takes company → finds document, location, organization, person
Key required · Python wheel
Verified publisher

osintverse-community/opensanctions

Screens a person's or company's name against OpenSanctions: sanctions lists, politically exposed persons, watch lists

Takes company, name → finds organization, other, person
Key required · Docker
Verified publisher
ot install osintverse-community/companies-house osintverse-community/handelsregister osintverse-community/opensanctions

Installs the first 3 in one go. No ot yet? Install it in one line.

Without Docker, with otlite

All otlite tools →

Linux and macOS. otlite installs each one with pip or git into its own virtualenv, pinned to a version it has tested: otlite install crosslinked.

The 3 registry tools side by side

The registry tools on this page, compared. Select a column heading to sort by it.
osintverse-community/companies-houselocation, organization, personRequiredOnline, passiveYesDockerNo reports yetfewer than 10
osintverse-community/handelsregisterdocument, location, organization, personRequiredOnline, passiveYesPythonNo reports yetfewer than 10
osintverse-community/opensanctionsorganization, other, personRequiredOnline, passiveYesDockerNo reports yetfewer than 10

Facts from each tool's manifest and what people report about whether it works. "Reaches" says whether a run stays offline, reads public sources, sends requests about the target, or may notify them.

How to find who runs and owns a company

  1. Find the company in its register (companies-house for the UK, handelsregister for Germany) and list its officers and persons with significant control.
  2. Note each officer's other appointments: the same person on several boards links companies.
  3. Screen the company and its people against sanctions and PEP lists (opensanctions).

Before you run one

Is the person on the register the real owner?

It is who the company declared. Nominee directors and layered ownership are common, so treat the register as a strong lead and follow the ownership chain through each company it names.

Which countries are covered?

The UK and Germany for officers today, plus GLEIF and SEC EDGAR on the company page for legal entities worldwide and US filings. A request for another country's register is welcome on the requests board.

Do these tools send my search anywhere?

No. ot runs each tool on your own machine in a read-only container that can only reach the sites the tool declares, and results stay in your results folder. The registry only counts installs.

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