Many years ago I invested in some UK company shares, but following numerous moves in several countries, I no longer have much paperwork and would be grateful for some help as to how I find out what I own and what they are worth. I believe some of the companies have been taken over or changed their name so this is an added problem. I also had some UK insurance policies from companies that demutualised and suspect I may have been issued some shares from them too. PM Abu Dhabi
There are certain steps one can take to track down shareholding, dividends, entitlements from mergers, acquisitions and unclaimed demutualisation shares from companies – some of which might have changed their names through merger or closed down completely. If you have any paperwork from any shares, this should show the name of the share registrar. This is the organisation tasked with communicating with shareholders on behalf of a company. There are three main companies in the UK: Equiniti, Capita and Computershare, and their details are easily accessible via any internet search engine. You can then contact the registrar of one or all of them to see if there are any holdings in your name. Once they have identified a holding, they will need to identify you and you will be asked to provide proof of identity. If you have paperwork but the share registrar cannot find details of the company in question, contact Companies House, (www.companieshouse.gov.uk). For mutual organisations, try the Mutuals Register (www.mutuals.fsa.gov.uk) for information.
Keren Bobker is an independent financial adviser with Holborn Assets in Dubai. Contact her at keren@holbornassets.com
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