Trying to contact EE share registrars

[Simpo Two]

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.

[Simpo Two]

I have the address as The Point, 37 North Wharf Road, London W2 1AG - but there's surprisingly little on Google. Would you know if it's the correct address for share matters? Or is it just 'FAO Olaf Swantee' and hope?

Someone here must have shares in EE - who do you deal with?

[Simpo Two]

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?

Edited by Simpo Two on Thursday 26th February 17:13

[Simpo Two]

Let's hope I don't have to be back later... watch this space...!

[Simpo Two]

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?

Edited by Simpo Two on Friday 27th February 13:15

[Simpo Two]

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

[Simpo Two]

Went off at 16.47 actually! Hope they can read English...

[Simpo Two]

A fast and detailed reply - hopefully this will be of use to others too:

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.

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

[Simpo Two]

Damn you're good at this

But there is still £1K that needs to be accounted for...

[Simpo Two]

Well I went back for another go:

Simpo said:

Good morning and thank you very much for the fast and helpful information.

I don't recall a financial intermediary; Freeserve was my Internet Service Provider, and I bought the shares directly at their floatation in 1999.

My bank records only go back to 2009. The most likely option is that I kept the shares throughout and France Telecom sent me 996 Euros in 2004 - but I have no memory or record of this.

Is it possible to find out from 'your' end whether payment was made to me?

And they replied:

Orange said:

Shares are in either direct registered shares or bearer shares, and the company can only manage the shareholders who have direct registered shares, what was not your case.

Therefore we cannot make researches.

Besides, a company cannot pay directly the shareholders, so funds are deposited in a centralist bank and every banking network has to take contact with this bank agent to pay his own customers.

So on the balance of evidence is it time to write the shares off my spreadsheet and conclude '50% chance paid but forgotten/50% lost without trace' - or is there another angle/possibility?

[Simpo Two]

Aha, a secret tunnel...

I'm inclined to let you run with this in return for 10%...!