My mother was a very small Fyffes (and previously FII) shareholder, and I’m now in the unpleasant situation of inheriting 25 Dole shares. Sadly Fyffes didn’t give us the option of selling up when the Dole purchase went through (or else I missed the offer).
Having previously dealt with US-based shares, I have no wish to hold on to Dole — and I suspect that trying to transfer them from my deceased mother’s name would also be painful.
Do you know how I could donate these shares to charity?
I suspect once other Irish Fyffes small shareholders discover the pain of dealing with the US tax authorities, they may wish to do the same!
Many thanks
A.S., email
Legacy shareholdings can be a lot of hassle, especially when you are talking about micro-holdings such as the one you have on your hands with Dole.
It has certainly been a bit of an adventure for your mum, especially as she invested so early in the business even before it was called Fyffes.
Fruit Importers of Ireland was a Neil McCann-founded business that went public on the Irish Stock Exchange as far back as 1981. After the company acquired the British business, Fyffes, in 1986, it renamed the listed business as Fyffes plc three years later.
That business grew dramatically over the years before it decided to split itself into three back in 2006. At that time, the fruit distribution business was renamed as Total Produce, the company’s property arm became Blackrock International and Fyffes retained the fruit and veg import business.
All three were listed companies and anyone like your mum, who had had shares in Fyffess would now have got shares in all three.
The fun didn’t stop there. Blackrock International became Balmoral International Land, and unless your mum sold out, it is likely there are some legacy shares in that business hanging around somewhere.
Fyffes was acquired by Japanese group Sumitomo in a deal first agreed in late 2016. That just left Total Produce and it is that company, not Fyffes, that subsequently merged with Dole, in which it already held a significant holding.
At that time, in July 2019, Total Produce shareholders got one new Dole share for every seven Total Produce shares. As you say, I don’t think there was any provision at the time for people like your mum to simply cash in their stock.
Ironically, given your current plan, Dole decided that any rump shares — Total Produce shares that were left unconverted under the seven-for-one transaction — would be sold and the proceeds given to charity, in this case Unicef.
In your mum’s case, she was left with these 25 Dole shares. At the current price of around $10.04, these 25 Dole shares are worth around $250 or just over €233. There are, as you say, complexities in dealing with US shares, certainly when it is just a handful of stock like this. So it does make sense to find a way of offloading these that does not involve you having to go through the rigmarole of changing the name they are held in and then finding a broker to trade them through.
Any capital gain your mother made on the transaction will have died with her, so there is no liability for you there. And, given the small number of shares and the fact the price has been trending down in recent times, there will not be any capital gain to concern you since you took control of the stock.
Donating to charity is a tidy way of dealing with these things, and the good news is that there is an Irish charity that specialises in just this sort of thing.
Sharegift accepts donations of shares — and the dividends that goes with shares like Dole. It has relationships with several of the share registrars, like Computershare, which can ease the paperwork side of things. It also has direct relations with a number of corporates who would have wide shareholder bases in Ireland. These include AIB, Bank of Ireland, Vodafone and Verizon.
Operating here since 2016, Sharegift’s Irish operation currently supports eight charities across a broad range of areas. They are: Barretstown, the camp for children suffering from cancer and other series illnesses; the Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice; Special Olympics Ireland; homeless charity Focus Ireland; the Irish Cancer Society; the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; the Community Foundation for Ireland; and Youth Work Ireland.
It says that, over the past eight years, it has made donations to the charities of more than €1.25 million. Essentially, it builds up the holdings in individual companies until there is a sufficient number to justify selling them with the proceeds going to the charities. Meantime, any dividend income is put into the fund.
Sharegift retains the right to change these charities from time to time but says the spread will always be fairly wide.
You are not constrained to Sharegift, which is a UK charity with an Irish unit. It is possible to donate shares directly to a charity of your choice but Sharegift is probably better focused on managing the paperwork involved than some would be. That reduces the hassle for you.
Please send your queries to Dominic Coyle, Q&A, The Irish Times, 24-28 Tara Street Dublin 2, or by email to dominic.coyle@irishtimes.com. This column is a reader service and is not intended to replace professional advice
