One lost investment, two companies in IEPF after a demerger

The situation

The client’s shares had been transferred to the IEPF after a long period of inactivity, and the shareholder records showed an old residential address. During this time, the company had also gone through a demerger, and shares of the new company had been allotted to the investor.

The challenge

The investor was unaware of the demerger, so the new company’s shares also ended up in the IEPF. The holdings had to be traced across both the original and the demerged company, and two separate IEPF claims were needed.

What we did

• Traced the holdings across the original and the demerged company
• Updated the outdated shareholder records
• Completed the documentation for two separate IEPF claims
• Coordinated the recovery of the shares and the eligible accumulated dividends of both companies
• Followed up systematically until both claims were completed

The outcome

The shares and dividends of both companies were successfully recovered. What first looked like a single lost investment turned out to be holdings in two companies, a reminder of why corporate actions such as demergers must be traced when recovering old investments from the IEPF.

Client identity withheld for privacy. Every case is different, and timelines depend on the companies, registrars and documents involved.