Acquisition

[Tintin]

I'm reconcilling some old trades, as I sold all in 2008 and need to figure out my basis.

Bought WLA in 1997 and recorded splits and all div in file WLA.DAT.

On 6/20/2000 WLA merged with PFE and got 2.75 shares for each WLA shares. Example 100 WLA, now becomes 275 PFE. (WLA is now deleted from the exchange - I never owned PFE shares before).

I created a file PFE.DAT and recorded all div and the sale in 2008, but never entered a purchase. All div are recorded witht he div/share.

What would you suggest as the best way to reconcile these two files. They both have all the data, WLA has a purchase, but no sale, and the PFE file has only a sale and no purchase of the underlying.

Checked in help, and forum, but found no hint.

Thanks.

[Mark]

Hi Tintin,

There are 2 different ways you can handle a merger:

1) Record a split transaction on the date of the merger. So, you could have recorded a 2.75 for 1 split, and then re-named WLA to PFE. You still just have 1 investment file when you're done.

2) Use the "Transfer Between..." wizard. Transfer all the shares from WLA to PFE on the date of the merger. This also transfers the cost basis. You'll end up with a single Transfer Out transaction in WLA, and one Transfer In in PFE for each open lot you had in WLA. All the transfers happen on the merger date, but the cost basis dates retain their original purchase dates.

Given that you already have 2 investments, I'd suggest you use the second method.

[Creaky]

I'm trying to do the same thing, BUT ....

Split Method - when the name is changed won't the new price import overwrite the prices associated with the first held stock? Ditto dividends? I have no support from the broker, must rely on historical price/dividends from Yahoo.

Transfer Between - sounds like my best bet but I cannot create the new stock to transfer to without entering share and price figures, which of course should be zero but zero is not accepted. I did not hold the new stock before the merger.

[Mark]

Hi Creaky,

Split method: This is a good point. Yes, you would want to do any retrieving for the pre-merger date before you record the split and name change. After recording this, only retrieve on/after this date. Once you've retrieved for a date range there is usually no reason to re-retrieve that time period.

Transfer Between: You can create the new investment with 0 shares, but not 0 price. This is a standard limitation when creating any new investment. If you don't know the price for a particular date, just enter 1, and overwrite it when you retrieve historical prices.