Warning on potential share offers

Last updated June 2011

If you own a small number of shares in a particular company, you may receive an unsolicited offer to purchase your shares.

In the past the media often commented on David Tweed and one of his companies, Australian Share Purchasing Corporation Pty Ltd. But he is not the only one.

The offers often contain sweeteners that make it sound like they will make the process of selling your shares easy. But the sting is in the detail.

Common traps have included buying the shares off you at much less than what they are really worth, or offering you a price close to current marked value which is not paid to you for several years.

For example, one offer made to Incitec Pivot Ltd shareholders was to buy their shares for $100. Sound good? Actually, this price was only 56% of the closing price for Incitec Pivot during that time (you could have sold them on the stock market for around $177 each).

You are reminded that share prices are published in the financial pages of major papers and are also available from the ASX at www.asx.com.au

If you are not sure what to do with any shares you hold (even if you only have a few), we encourage you to contact us. We can explain what your options are and assist you with whatever you choose to do.