Minor Shareholdings Musings

[Halmyre]

An elderly relative recently passed away, and part of their estate included the grand total of 137 shares in Lloyds Bank. Given the various charges for transferring them to my name and selling them, it's hardly worth the effort. So the shares will just sit there for...how long? Will they at some point be written off?

I wonder how many similar situations exist, a couple of hundred shares here and there, lying unclaimed.

[Simpo Two]

Talk to the registrar, Equiniti; they have a special scheme for selling small numbers of shares.

[alscar]

As above.
I had to do this when my Aunt died and I was Executor of her will - one phone call and also had to send a copy of the death certificate from memory and I then got a cheque back.
They had a bereavement team so was pretty straightforward.
I

[Jon39]

Those Lloysd shares probably came to your relative following the flotation of a building society.
Members (customers) of the building society received shares.
It might have been Halifax, which I think Lloyd's Bank acquired, later regretting it.

This situation can even occur to serious investors.
It can be the result following a series of takeovers.

GKN faced a takeover by Melrose Industries.
The GKN board lost so the takeover went through.
Holding still maintained.
Melrose then decided that aerospace was the future and so demerged the car components business.
One holding was split in to two smaller holdings, Melrose and Dowlais.
Dowlais later was taken over by an American car components business, Dauch.
Shares in that loss making business was the last thing that I wanted, but even after selecting to receive cash, I still ended up with 4 useless shares.

The same thing has now happened several times.
Would cost more to get rid than they are worth, so stuck with them.

Sometimes they can be given to charity, but only if the charity wants the company.

Edited by Jon39 on Monday 13th April 20:02