The Share Owners' Handbook

Jacket text for The Share Owners' Handbook

Whereas it is common for corporate actions to be treated incidentally by those promoting investing and investments, the aim of this short guide is to look at the subject of corporate actions in the round, so that the reader can understand the processing of corporate actions as well as the effect that dividends, rights issues and all the other corporate events have on their investments.

For those who simply require a handy and straightforward introduction to specific corporate actions the ‘Quick Fix’ guide to the content and the glossary of corporate actions terminology should be especially useful. Most but not all glossary terms appear in the text of the guide and each term’s first occurrence is in bold.

The book works through equity corporate actions followed by the corporate actions industry; its efficiency and progress is considered in full. Debt security corporate actions are given separate treatment in later chapters and finally Groves looks at how corporate actions are treated in relation to a variety of specialist investment subjects, such as stock indices, hedging and asset backed securities. All of this is described in layman’s terms to help the flumoxed investor as corporate actions are declared.

Although the processing of corporate actions is the achievement of a global industry there are important differences between different countries when it comes to shareholder entitlements. To cover all the differences between jurisdictions is beyond the scope of this guide. Instead, corporate actions for United Kingdom companies are used as a starting point but significant national differences are also described and explained, particularly for the United States and
the European Union.

In the main, this guide’s point of view is that of the equity investor. However, it is hoped that investment industry practitioners will also find the guide helpful. The aim has been to provide sufficient detail to give the reader a working model of corporate actions that is practically helpful in navigating the investment world.

Chapter headings for The Share Owners' Handbook

Preface
Introduction

Chapter 1 - Rights Issues (& Open Offers)
Chapter 2 - Takeovers
Chapter 3 - Spin-offs and Demergers
Chapter 4 - Return of Capital
Chapter 5 - Bonus Issues and Share Consolidations
Chapter 6 - Dividends, Scrip Dividends
Chapter 7 - Voting Your Shares
Chapter 8 - Some Other Corporate Actions
Chapter 9 - Different Kinds of Stockbroking Service and How This Can Affect How Corporate Actions Work for You
Chapter 10 - Where to Go for Information about Corporate Actions
Chapter 11 - What it All Adds Up To

Appendices

About Francis Groves

Francis Groves studied modern history at the London School of Economics and has many years of experience working for legal and financial publishers including, Reuters, the Financial Times and Butterworths. He has written on overseas property investment and created financial literacy training materials. The interaction of politics and finance is a particular interest for him. Francis continues to enjoy reading history. Other spare time pursuits include walking and exploring new walks.

More about Francis Groves