Help persimmon offer

[happyhero]

Hi sorry if this is not the right place, I couldn't find a better part of the forum for this and I do consider myself a bit of an amateur with shares compared to many of the guys on here.

I have about £2000 worth of Persimmon shares and have just received a letter from Barclays Stockbrokers regarding an offer or Corporate Action, and although I always find these offers overly complicated, this one seems the worst to understand so can somebody explain the offer to me in more simple terms and possibly point out the more popular choice so that I know how to reply please?

Any help or guidance would be appreciated.

 

[Lightning McQueen]

you don't say what exactly is being offered here by barclays? can you expand on that a little.

 

[Splitlink]

Basically, you should be wary of first time offers because it often happens that another, higher one, comes along. You need to find out whether the price reflects the future value of the company. There will be time for you find out about that, The Persimmon CEO will issue a statenent on whether he thinks the offer reflects that value. I don't know anything about your company but a lot of them are at bargain prices just now.

 

[Lightning McQueen]

Basically, you should be wary of first time offers because it often happens that another, higher one, comes along. You need to find out whether the price reflects the future value of the company. There will be time for you find out about that, The Persimmon CEO will issue a statenent on whether he thinks the offer reflects that value. I don't know anything about your company but a lot of them are at bargain prices just now.

the share price is doing very well, and the company are giving surplus funds (£1.9bn) back to the share holders.

barclays aren't the registrar (unless Computershare Investor Services are owned by barclays?) so was curious as to what their letter was about. op hasn't come back yet, so we'll probably be left in limbo awhile.

 

[happyhero]

Its (my letter) a fair bit to type in but perhaps you can pick the bits out of this which is even longer

http://corporate.persimmonhomes.com...holder/agminfo/2013/notice-of-gm-circular.pdf

if not just say and I will either type my letter in or find something closer to it.
I Googled this to find it.
I think for you guys it may be easier for you to pick the info out that is of relevance to this post, it does not help me much.

It talks about B share Capital Alternative and C share Dividend Alternative, and I never know the significance of the B compared to the C shares, or for that matter, what happens if I do nothing?

And thanks for the inputs so far.

 

[Splitlink]

If you do nothing you will stay with the shares if there is no takeover. If they are taken over you will be offered the takeover price for your shares and, if you refuse, will keep the shares and take your chance with the takeover company.

These companies all have A's and B's and God knows what, to complicate the issue. If you don't mind, I'll take a pass on that and let LM do it! Put it downto old age!

In the the good old days, I accepted a first offer for a restaurant chain and sold the shares, The takeover company could not get enough and offered more, later.

Another thing to watch for, while you are waiting to make up your mind, is that the price might go up in the market, giving you a chance to make more, that way.

Anyway, whatever happens, I hope that you make a profit, whichever way it goes.

 

[Brumby]

Hi sorry if this is not the right place, I couldn't find a better part of the forum for this and I do consider myself a bit of an amateur with shares compared to many of the guys on here.

I have about £2000 worth of Persimmon shares and have just received a letter from Barclays Stockbrokers regarding an offer or Corporate Action, and although I always find these offers overly complicated, this one seems the worst to understand so can somebody explain the offer to me in more simple terms and possibly point out the more popular choice so that I know how to reply please?

Any help or guidance would be appreciated.

A brief read appears to be a case of capital being returned to shareholders. The different options is because typically in such cases there are different tax consideration depending on individual tax situation and the applicable tax jurisdiction. Normally you should speak to your tax accountant but given the amount involved, it is probably not cost effective. I suggest you just read page 9 which spells out reasonably clearly the tax implication for UK tax resident before deciding on the appropriate option.

 

[Splitlink]

Sorry, I thought that it was a takeover. It's an internal affair.

 

[happyhero]

So am I right in thinking I keep the shares but get 75p for each one I have; I receive this 75p as either a B share or C share, the B shares are just shares but the C shares are Dividend shares?

But what are dividend shares, surely it has to be either shares or a dividend payment, how can it be dividend shares?

With the C shares if they are offering to pay me a dividend in shares instead of cash then isnt that what the B shares are, hope I am making sense and sorry if I am being a bit thick here?

Also what happens when you own shares in a company and they award you some B or C shares in a corporate action for example, can they all get bunched together i.e. existing shares grouped with new B shares so that you can still sell them as one holding or do you have to do separate transactions for each type resulting in a prohibitively expensive transaction percentage wise for the new shares they have given you since you may only have a few? Sorry i am sure I am being thick here but help me if you can please.

If I had to try and guess what they are saying from their over complicated offer I would say they are offering me either shares or a dividend at a rate of 75p per existing share, is that what they are offering?

Thanks guys for all the help, really appreciated.

 

[Brumby]

So am I right in thinking I keep the shares but get 75p for each one I have; I receive this 75p as either a B share or C share, the B shares are just shares but the C shares are Dividend shares?

But what are dividend shares, surely it has to be either shares or a dividend payment, how can it be dividend shares?

With the C shares if they are offering to pay me a dividend in shares instead of cash then isnt that what the B shares are, hope I am making sense and sorry if I am being a bit thick here?

Also what happens when you own shares in a company and they award you some B or C shares in a corporate action for example, can they all get bunched together i.e. existing shares grouped with new B shares so that you can still sell them as one holding or do you have to do separate transactions for each type resulting in a prohibitively expensive transaction percentage wise for the new shares they have given you since you may only have a few? Sorry i am sure I am being thick here but help me if you can please.

If I had to try and guess what they are saying from their over complicated offer I would say they are offering me either shares or a dividend at a rate of 75p per existing share, is that what they are offering?

Thanks guys for all the help, really appreciated.

Please read the document. Go to page 3 (under FAQ's). Questions 3 and 8 specifically addresses your questions. Question 10 outlines the process. Page 9 deals in a bit more detail the tax issues pertaining to UK tax residence. Collectively they should address all of your general questions.