FRANKFURT (AP) -- Truck maker MAN said Tuesday it has completed its switch to a European Company, or Societas Europaea -- a move that will help it with cross-border mergers.
The change was official May 19 with the Munich-based company's entry into the commercial register as MAN SE.
The switch was approved by shareholders at MAN's annual meeting on April 3.
The SE corporate designation was introduced in 2004 to make cross-border mergers easier to implement and to help a company do business in other European Union member states without having to operate under different corporate laws.
Other companies that have made the change include German insurer Allianz, Finland's Elcoteq, Swedish financial service company Nordea and Norway's Narada Europe.
By offering a single legal structure and unified management and reporting systems, companies with subsidiaries throughout the 27-nation EU can trim administrative and legal costs.
Shares of MAN were down 1.3 percent to euro42.83 ($60) in Frankfurt trading.