How to calculate the purchase price for British Gas shares that were eventually sold as Royal Dutch Shell

[thescoop]

Moderator Message:
Moved here from Company News because this isn't company news. - Chris

My parents have recently sold 349 shares in Shell PLC. Unfortunately, none of us can remember what was originally paid for these shares when they were purchased as part of the British Gas IPO in 1986.

The calculation to work out capital gain for this sale seems complicated. Not considering any other consolidations or share dilutions, there were at least two major changes in their holdings over the years and British Gas eventually morphed into Shell:
In February 1997, British Gas was demerged into Centrica and BG Group. Shareholders of British Gas received shares in both new companies.
When Shell acquired BG Group in 2016, BG Group shareholders received a combination of cash and shares in Royal Dutch Shell.

Is anyone aware of how I might calculate the purchase price for the British Gas shares that were eventually sold as 349 Royal Dutch Shell shares in 2024?

[csearle]

My parents have recently sold 349 shares in Shell PLC. Unfortunately, none of us can remember what was originally paid for these shares when they were purchased as part of the British Gas IPO in 1986.

Welcome to The Lemon Fool! Just out of interest, how did you discover us?

Chris

[tjh290633]

My records show this:

Bought in 3 tranches,

08-Dec-86  50p
09-Jun-87  37p 
15-Apr-88  38p

Total     125p

Centrica demerged 17-Feb-97 @ 75.27p, 1 for 1, BG Price 174.5p post merger.

Lattice demerged 20-Oct-00 @ 150p, 1 for 1, BG Price 252p post merger

I sold in the market because the yield was too low in 2006. Presumably the price offered by SHEL is known, as is the cash rfeceived.

You will find details of the offer at https://www.shell.com/investors/informa ... l-plc.html

TJH

[BobGe]

Unfortunately, none of us can remember what was originally paid for these shares when they were purchased as part of the British Gas IPO in 1986.

The initial IPO of 135p per share valued British Gas at £9bn.
https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... PO+in+1986

"British Gas shares were split Centrica / BG Group. Transco was split off from BG Group and became part of Lattice which then merged with National Grid to form National Grid Transco. Since then they dropped the name Transco and are now just National Grid."
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/di ... om-the-80s

eventually leading to:
Recommended cash and share offer for BG group plc by Royal Dutch Shell plc
https://www.shell.com/investors/informa ... l-plc.html

Corporate Action: Royal Dutch Shell takeover of BG Group
https://meteoram.com/corporate-action-r ... -bg-group/

[SebsCat]

This link has a comprehensive cost allocation treatment from the privatisation of British Gas up to October 2000 when Lattice Group was demerged from BG Group https://web.archive.org/web/20121018044 ... vices/cgt/ . It takes into account whether bonus British Gas shares were received and the issuing of 'B' shares as part of the BG capital restructuring in 1997.

[EthicsGradient]

This might be useful (the archive.org link above just timed out on me) - BG capital gains events up to 2000, found on the National Grid website (because they bought Lattice in 2002). Gosh, it all started so long ago, there's indexation to take into account!

https://www.nationalgrid.com/document/140551/download

[thescoop]

My parents have recently sold 349 shares in Shell PLC. Unfortunately, none of us can remember what was originally paid for these shares when they were purchased as part of the British Gas IPO in 1986.

Welcome to The Lemon Fool! Just out of interest, how did you discover us?

Chris

Hello Chris, thank you for your warm welcome.
I was a frequent user of the Motley Fool forum for a decade from around 20 years ago until it eventually got shut down. I was a great fan of the user experience and how the community so kindly responded to requests for help and advice. I have known about the Lemon Fool for a few years but I've never quite grasped the user interface!
Bets wishes ...

[csearle]

Welcome to The Lemon Fool! Just out of interest, how did you discover us?

Chris

Hello Chris, thank you for your warm welcome.
I was a frequent user of the Motley Fool forum for a decade from around 20 years ago until it eventually got shut down. I was a great fan of the user experience and how the community so kindly responded to requests for help and advice. I have known about the Lemon Fool for a few years but I've never quite grasped the user interface!
Bets wishes ...

Well I'm impressed that we're still attracting erstwhile Motley Fools!

[vandefrosty]

There is information regarding holdings in BG since privatisation on the Shell Investor website.

In doing this, it gives details of each capital event since 1986. This should provide a framework for figuring out how the original holding evolved into the one you have now. Good luck.

Greg