Account shortfall leaves shares applicant stranded

A Dublin woman who was sent a certificate on July 14th for 977 Telecom shares worth £2,999.39 (€3,808.44) on the date of issue, was later told to return it.

The woman, who contacted The Irish Times yesterday but did not wish to be named, was informed in a standard letter from Telecom that the cheque or direct debit she had enclosed with her application had not been honoured.

The letter told her that if she disposed of the certificate she could be the subject of legal proceeds. It also said that if she had already sold the shares she must give the proceeds to the Minister for Public Enterprise, and that the names of all persons to whom invalid certificates had been issued, had been sent to all Irish stockbrokers and the Telecom registrars.

The woman is annoyed as she believes she fulfilled requirements in the Telecom prospectus. She had £3,000 in her Irish Permanent account on June 30th, the closing date for the offer. But the direct debit mandate she had given was not acted on until July 6th. In the period in between, an unrelated transaction occurred which she was not aware of, but which left her account £99 short of the amount needed to pay for her shares.

"It does not specify anywhere on the prospectus that a direct debit may not take place on the closing date but may take some days to clear," she said. "I made no attempt to defraud in any way and I believe that their own procedures caused any difficulties that have arisen."

At yesterday's closing prices, 977 Telecom shares were worth £3,448.81, an increase of £449.42 over their value on the date of issue.

Sources said that in a flotation such as Telecom the precise rules had to be applied in all cases, even though that involved some people losing out. They said the funds for all share applications had to be in place at the closing date and remain in place until the cheque or direct debit mandates had been processed.