Expert: Steven Taylor - 11/20/2009

Question
I recently found a note about 200 New Congress and 200 Gallahad shares purchased in BC in the 1970's.  I have no certificates of ownership.  Are these companies still in business and, if so, am I able to cash in the shares?

Thank you.

Answer
Barry, if you never sold or otherwise transferred the shares, you might be able to collect something, but it depends on the timing. It also depends on if I researched the correct stocks - you didn't give me the full name of each company, and since many companies may have similar names, I am guessing a bit.

But, based on my best guesses for the full name of each company, and the information I have available, New Congress Resources did a 1 for 5 reverse split and became Levon Resources. Levon is still around - it trades on the TSX Venture for about 63 cents per share. If that is the right company, you need to contact Levon's current transfer agent, Valiant Trust (www.valianttrust.com) to see if you are a shareholder.

For Gallahad, there were several Canadian companies with that name, so I guessed it was Gallahad Petroleum? If so, there might be some value there as well. Gallahad merged into Backer Petroleum on the basis of 3 new shares of Backer for each 1 old share of Gallahad. Backer was acquired by Allied Oil and Gas in 2000 for $1.75 cash per share. If that is the same company in which you had shares, and you never received the money, the cash would have been turned over to the Government for safekeeping. I don't know if you lived in Canada, but it would have likely been turned over to Province in which you lived - if you lived outside Canada, I don't think it would have been sent to your country, but instead likely the Company's Province of Incorporation or the Province in which the company was headquarted. As such, you will need to search both. In this case, I think both were Alberta. You can search some Provinces' safekeeping asset lists for free online through www.missingmoney.com and www.naupa.org.