Trying to contact EE share registrars
Discussion
I understand that shares I purchased in Freeserve many years ago are now somewhere in the mobile phone giant EE. However, the automated consumer line 0170 7315333 is not relevant (try option 0, it's a winner!) and the Press Office have a 'policy' not to give any contacts out. They just parrot 0170 7315333.
I'd like to ask someone 'Where are my shares please, and do you still have them and if so what are they worth?'
It's not my area so am feeling a bit stumped.
I'd like to ask someone 'Where are my shares please, and do you still have them and if so what are they worth?'
It's not my area so am feeling a bit stumped.
Having worked for said organisation youll be lucky to see any of that.
Freeserve became Wanadoo which was then swallowed up by Orange when France Telecom bought the Orange brand. Since then its been merged into EE and is now owned by Deutsche Telecom and France Telecom (via their Orange brand) There are no public shares available. They were going to do an IPO of EE but that wont happen now BT are involved.
I have an old article which states:
Dixons, the UK's leading electrical retailer, is planning to float a minority stake in its Freeserve Internet Service on the stock market.
The decision follows a review by Credit Suisse First Boston and Cazenove, Dixons' financial advisers.
So you should start with them but I can assume that you would have been offered Orange or FT shares somewhere in the past. When I worked there our Orange shares were swapped into FT shares at a ratio so I would imagine if you have anything now it will be FT shares priced in Euros. Interesting to see how you get on, good luck.
EE's head office is in Hatfield (T-Mobiles old office) and their fancy posh premises are in London. They also have offices in Bristol. France Telecom is in Paris and you should be able to find all addresses on the t'internet
I would start with Credit Suisse now though (First Boston was removed in 2006) and Casenove first of all and bypass the business. One is based in the UK so they might be able to accept your call
http://www.brandrepublic.com/article/12467/shares-...
Freeserve became Wanadoo which was then swallowed up by Orange when France Telecom bought the Orange brand. Since then its been merged into EE and is now owned by Deutsche Telecom and France Telecom (via their Orange brand) There are no public shares available. They were going to do an IPO of EE but that wont happen now BT are involved.
I have an old article which states:
Dixons, the UK's leading electrical retailer, is planning to float a minority stake in its Freeserve Internet Service on the stock market.
The decision follows a review by Credit Suisse First Boston and Cazenove, Dixons' financial advisers.
So you should start with them but I can assume that you would have been offered Orange or FT shares somewhere in the past. When I worked there our Orange shares were swapped into FT shares at a ratio so I would imagine if you have anything now it will be FT shares priced in Euros. Interesting to see how you get on, good luck.
EE's head office is in Hatfield (T-Mobiles old office) and their fancy posh premises are in London. They also have offices in Bristol. France Telecom is in Paris and you should be able to find all addresses on the t'internet
I would start with Credit Suisse now though (First Boston was removed in 2006) and Casenove first of all and bypass the business. One is based in the UK so they might be able to accept your call
http://www.brandrepublic.com/article/12467/shares-...
Edited by oldaudi on Thursday 26th February 17:14
Excellent, many thanks!
My address is unchanged since I bought the shares, and I've heard nothing, so from my viewpoint they've effectively taken £750 of my money (in 1999 terms). The shares opened at £1.50, went quickly up to £9+ then fell to about £4. After that, I decided to hold them and later the trail went dead.
Do you have any details for Credit Suisse or Casenove, or is it just Google and play pass the punter?
My address is unchanged since I bought the shares, and I've heard nothing, so from my viewpoint they've effectively taken £750 of my money (in 1999 terms). The shares opened at £1.50, went quickly up to £9+ then fell to about £4. After that, I decided to hold them and later the trail went dead.
Do you have any details for Credit Suisse or Casenove, or is it just Google and play pass the punter?
Edited by Simpo Two on Thursday 26th February 17:13
https://www.cazenovecapital.com/
Cazenove Capital Management
12 Moorgate
London
EC2R 6DA
Telephone +44 (0)20 7658 1000
They have other offices in the UK by the looks of it but given that London appears to be the centre of the universe for everyone else apart us country folk, Id start with the London one !
Cazenove Capital Management
12 Moorgate
London
EC2R 6DA
Telephone +44 (0)20 7658 1000
They have other offices in the UK by the looks of it but given that London appears to be the centre of the universe for everyone else apart us country folk, Id start with the London one !
IIRC. Orange was bought by German company Mannesmann in 1999, paid way over the top I think. Mannesmann also ran a German phone company.
Then, a few years later, Vodafone bought out Mannesmann for a huge sum. Because of a monopolies issue they had to sell off Orange in the UK, I think France telecom then bought the UK arm of Orange.
France telecom and Deutsch Telecom (owners of T Mobile) then merged forming EE.
So your shares could be anywhere!
Then, a few years later, Vodafone bought out Mannesmann for a huge sum. Because of a monopolies issue they had to sell off Orange in the UK, I think France telecom then bought the UK arm of Orange.
France telecom and Deutsch Telecom (owners of T Mobile) then merged forming EE.
So your shares could be anywhere!
Edited by megaphone on Friday 27th February 08:13
OK, well a short call finds that Cazenove Capital Management is different from the Cazenove that was originally involved in the Freeserve purchase. A nice man there told me that the latter is now 'JP Morgan Cazenove', but he feels that I should contact the Registrar of whoever held the Freeserve shares.
Unfortunately he had no idea who the Registrar may have been, and neither do I...
Interestingly switchboard said they get quite a few calls about this (though didn't specify Freeserve).
ETA: Well the only Registar I know of is Equiniti, so I rang them and they told me to ring Companies House. Companies House as I discovered in the subsequent phone call is a Registrar of Companies not of Shares... but they gave the address of EE as EE Ltd., Trident Place, Mosquito Way, Hatfield AL10 9BW. I can get a list of the six directors free from the Companies House website, and a list of shareholders for £1.
Am I heading in the right direction chaps?
Unfortunately he had no idea who the Registrar may have been, and neither do I...
Interestingly switchboard said they get quite a few calls about this (though didn't specify Freeserve).
ETA: Well the only Registar I know of is Equiniti, so I rang them and they told me to ring Companies House. Companies House as I discovered in the subsequent phone call is a Registrar of Companies not of Shares... but they gave the address of EE as EE Ltd., Trident Place, Mosquito Way, Hatfield AL10 9BW. I can get a list of the six directors free from the Companies House website, and a list of shareholders for £1.
Am I heading in the right direction chaps?
Edited by Simpo Two on Friday 27th February 13:15
Freeserve was originally an independent company but merged into the Wanadoo group in 2000. (Wanadoo was a subsidiary of France Telecom.)
Wanadoo's successor was Orange Home UK whose successor is the telecommunications company EE.
The EE group was formed on 1 April 2010 when Orange and Deutsche Telekom combined their UK mobile businesses as a joint venture.
BT plc is currently in the process of buying EE from Orange and Deutsche Telekom.
To find out about your old Freeserve shares you should write a letter to:
EE Limited (company secretary's office)
Trident Place,
Mosquito Way,
Hatfield,
Hertfordshire,
AL10 9BW
Wanadoo's successor was Orange Home UK whose successor is the telecommunications company EE.
The EE group was formed on 1 April 2010 when Orange and Deutsche Telekom combined their UK mobile businesses as a joint venture.
BT plc is currently in the process of buying EE from Orange and Deutsche Telekom.
To find out about your old Freeserve shares you should write a letter to:
EE Limited (company secretary's office)
Trident Place,
Mosquito Way,
Hatfield,
Hertfordshire,
AL10 9BW
EE is a red herring and has nothing to do with your issue.
It would be like calling Verizon in the US to ask about your Mannesman shares. (Vodafone owned them both at times.)
I am not sure about your chances of getting anything.
Your Freeserve shares should have been converted into Wanadoo shares. And the Freeserve registrar should have contacted you about that.
(Freeserve shareholders received 0.225 shares in Wanadoo for each share.)
Then France Tel bought Wanadoo.
However they did it in stages - firstly with a cash and share offer and then with what the French call a "retrait obligatoire" which is a squeeze-out in the UK - a compulsory purchase for cash.
Given that you didn't tender your Wanadoo shares for the cash and share offer you would have been subject to the squeeze out and hence France Tel should have sent you cash.
Isn't the name of the registrar written on the share certificate?
Perhaps the best place to start is with the individual shareholder reps at Orange (which is what France Tel is called now).
http://www.orange.com/en/finance/nbsp6/individual-...
To contact us, you can:
email us directly at orange@relations-actionnaires.com
write us at Orange - shareholders relations department - BP 1010 - 75721 Paris Cedex 15 - France.
call us on 10 10 or +33 1 60 95 87 24 from abroad, from 9 am to 7 pm Monday to Friday (French time)
It would be like calling Verizon in the US to ask about your Mannesman shares. (Vodafone owned them both at times.)
I am not sure about your chances of getting anything.
Your Freeserve shares should have been converted into Wanadoo shares. And the Freeserve registrar should have contacted you about that.
(Freeserve shareholders received 0.225 shares in Wanadoo for each share.)
Then France Tel bought Wanadoo.
However they did it in stages - firstly with a cash and share offer and then with what the French call a "retrait obligatoire" which is a squeeze-out in the UK - a compulsory purchase for cash.
Given that you didn't tender your Wanadoo shares for the cash and share offer you would have been subject to the squeeze out and hence France Tel should have sent you cash.
Isn't the name of the registrar written on the share certificate?
Perhaps the best place to start is with the individual shareholder reps at Orange (which is what France Tel is called now).
http://www.orange.com/en/finance/nbsp6/individual-...
To contact us, you can:
email us directly at orange@relations-actionnaires.com
write us at Orange - shareholders relations department - BP 1010 - 75721 Paris Cedex 15 - France.
call us on 10 10 or +33 1 60 95 87 24 from abroad, from 9 am to 7 pm Monday to Friday (French time)
Thank you folks and especially Walm who I know is quite well clued up in this area.
I don't recall anything after buying the original shares, and although I had a hunt for the peperwork yesterday, couldn't find anything. There is I suppose a small chance that France Telecom sent me a small cheque that I cashed many years ago and forgot about, but I certainly didn't instigate anything from my end. I'll contact Orange via your handy e-mail link and see what they say. Thanks again; if you get stuck with a camera I'll see you in the Photo forum
I don't recall anything after buying the original shares, and although I had a hunt for the peperwork yesterday, couldn't find anything. There is I suppose a small chance that France Telecom sent me a small cheque that I cashed many years ago and forgot about, but I certainly didn't instigate anything from my end. I'll contact Orange via your handy e-mail link and see what they say. Thanks again; if you get stuck with a camera I'll see you in the Photo forum
A fast and detailed reply - hopefully this will be of use to others too:
So either I did nothing, and got paid by France Telecom 500xE8.86 = E4430 = about £4,000 (which I am sure I'd have remembered!) or I took one of the earlier options and got alternative shares and some cash.
It seems to me that whatever route I did or didn't take, things have run their course and all monies must have, or should have, been paid to me.
But there is still something niggling... I need to see something from a company that says 'We paid Mr Simpo £X on Y date'.
Orange said:
I inform you that during the repurchase of Freeserve between February and April, 2001, the ratio of exchange was 0,225 Wanadoo for 1 Freeserve. Then, in April, 2004, the shareholders of Wanadoo could choose between 3 possibilities :
40 Wanadoo for 7 France Télécom + € 195 in cash
or
18 Wanadoo for 7 France Télécom
or
€ 8,86 in cash per Wandoo share.
In this offer, if the shareholder had not expressed his choice, on June, 29th 2004, France Telecom did a compulsory takeover bid for Wanadoo shares at the price of € 8,86 per share in cash.
On the other hand, I clarify you that there was no offer of exchange with shares Orange.
We invite you to check with the financial intermediary which managed your Freeserve shares initially.
Best regards,
The shareholder relations team
Now, the problem is that I can't remember what I did. My instinct would have been to want the shares to regain their former peak. And there was no financial intermediary, as far as I know, in the initial purchase. Freeserve was my ISP at the time and I thought the offer came directly from them.40 Wanadoo for 7 France Télécom + € 195 in cash
or
18 Wanadoo for 7 France Télécom
or
€ 8,86 in cash per Wandoo share.
In this offer, if the shareholder had not expressed his choice, on June, 29th 2004, France Telecom did a compulsory takeover bid for Wanadoo shares at the price of € 8,86 per share in cash.
On the other hand, I clarify you that there was no offer of exchange with shares Orange.
We invite you to check with the financial intermediary which managed your Freeserve shares initially.
Best regards,
The shareholder relations team
So either I did nothing, and got paid by France Telecom 500xE8.86 = E4430 = about £4,000 (which I am sure I'd have remembered!) or I took one of the earlier options and got alternative shares and some cash.
It seems to me that whatever route I did or didn't take, things have run their course and all monies must have, or should have, been paid to me.
But there is still something niggling... I need to see something from a company that says 'We paid Mr Simpo £X on Y date'.
Edited by Simpo Two on Monday 2nd March 10:01
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