Standard Life struggles to find takers for £290m in windfalls

Standard Life struggles to find takers for £290m in windfalls

Standard Life yesterday revealed that almost £290m worth of windfall shares and cash is sitting in its coffers waiting to be claimed by former members following its stock market flotation last July.

One policyholder in Colchester, Essex, has £136,000 worth of shares with his or her name on them, and there are six other former members (now shareholders) who have also failed to come forward to claim payouts running into six figures.

More than 236,000 former members have yet to claim a total of 89m shares following the company's demutualisation. At yesterday's closing share price of 303p, these were worth £270m.

The shares are being held in the company's "unclaimed assets trust" and represent 4% of the Edinburgh-based insurer's paper value. In addition, just under £18m in cash is waiting to be claimed by almost 20,000 former members, many of whom live abroad.

Advertisement starts

---

---

Advertisement ends

A spokesman for the insurer said it had made a number of attempts to contact these former members at their last known addresses. "We also employed a tracing agency last year to chase up people who we knew were 'gone aways' - people who have moved on from that address." Some may have forgotten they were due a payout, others will have died.

About 7,000 people are coming forward each month to claim what is rightfully theirs. The five largest unclaimed amounts and postcodes of the individuals concerned are:

· 45,136 shares worth £136,700 - CO2 (Colchester)

· 41,317 shares worth £125,000 - BS99 (Bristol)

· 38,465 shares worth £116,500 - County Kildare

· 36,923 shares worth £111,800 - DE1 (Derby)

· 36,614 shares worth £110,900 - G2 (Glasgow)

"We do want people to come forward as soon as possible," said the spokesman. However, some might feel they do not have to hurry; the deadline for claiming shares or cash is July 10 2016. After that date, any unclaimed payouts will be used for general corporate purposes - "which may include charitable giving".

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006