# When to sell Verizon (arising from Vodafone) shares?



## CarPark (8 Jan 2014)

I have Vodafone shares coming from the days of Eircom. As part of the new Vodafone deal, shareholders are to receive a "return of value" in the form of cash and Verizon shares.
They have included a dealing form that allows us to sell Verizon shares without paying a fee, but there is a final deadline for this of April 4th. Between February 20th and April 4th there are 12 specific days on which they will collect all submitted share forms and sell those shares. 

My question:
Is it better to be in the first tranche of selling (i.e., Feb 24), the middle, or the last tranche (April 07th)?
I have a feeling that most Vodafone shareholders will sell their Verizon shares. This will naturally push the share price down. But do you have any feeling on whether it will drop for the first day trading (Feb 24th) and then recover quickly, or drop after the first day trading and stay low until after the end of April?
Thanks in advance

PS, naturally I realise this is all guesswork, but an educated guess may be a better guess than mine!


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## Tintagel (8 Jan 2014)

I sold all my 140 Vodafone shares yesterday on the open market. Paid a €40 dealing fee. To be honest I am glad to see the back of them. I reckon I lost between €300 and €400 overall on them since the start of the sorry debacle.


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## Brendan Burgess (8 Jan 2014)

while we don't allow share price speculation, this is such a unique situation, that we will make an exception.


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## CarPark (10 Jan 2014)

Does anybody have any opinion on this?
If you are a vodafone shareholder, what are you planning to do?


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## elcato (10 Jan 2014)

I am going to sell the verizons and keep the vodafone. If I could rid of the vodafone with no dealing fee I would get rid of the lot. I don't think this is on offer though.


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## Eithneangela (10 Jan 2014)

+1. No harm in keeping the Vodafone shares.


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## CarPark (14 Jan 2014)

Thanks for above.
 There are different dates for submitting your instruction to sell, e.g., you can decide to sell at the start (i.e., Feb 24th) or at the end (i.e., April 7th) or at various points in between.
 If everybody does the same as us (i.e.,  sell the Verizon shares), there may be a rush of sales on the first day, in which case the share price might drop.  In that case, are we better to wait for a later date, or is it likely that it will "do a facebook" and continue to drop for a considerable time, in which case it would be better to be out early!
 Any thoughts on timing of sale welcome.


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## mc-BigE (10 Feb 2014)

CarPark said:


> Thanks for above.
> There are different dates for submitting your instruction to sell, e.g., you can decide to sell at the start (i.e., Feb 24th) or at the end (i.e., April 7th) or at various points in between.
> If everybody does the same as us (i.e.,  sell the Verizon shares), there may be a rush of sales on the first day, in which case the share price might drop.  In that case, are we better to wait for a later date, or is it likely that it will "do a facebook" and continue to drop for a considerable time, in which case it would be better to be out early!
> Any thoughts on timing of sale welcome.



i have decided to sell my verizon shares early for the "facebook" scenario you mention. but to be honest, its all guesswork, i don't know if they will rise or fall after i sell them, i have so little shares, i just don't want the hassle of having them and any fees later to sell them.


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## MrEarl (11 Feb 2014)

Hello,

I think the expectation that many of the small private ("new") owners of Verizon shares has already been priced into the share.

Questions about what Verizon's dividend policy will be, when (if ever) Verizon will pay it's next dividend, if it has plans for acquisition or sale of assets post Vodafone deal etc are all worth considering.  It may also be appropriate to consider any future FX risks.

So, throw all of the above into the mix and then ask yourself, are there tax liabilities, what (if anything) is the opportunity cost and finally, is it worth all the trouble for the small shareholding that many of us may have ? 

Personally, I'd sell now and use the proceeds for something else, be it buy a Euro based share, pay down debt or invest in a pension (where tax breaks may be available) etc.


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