Expert: Steven Taylor - 4/21/2009

Question
I recently came across a couple old share certificates of my fathers while going through some papers. Unfortunately he is in a home and suffers from dementia. The companies name is Arabee Oil and Gas Co. and the certs are dated Sept 1955 and Jan 1956. I can't seem to find anything on this company but noticed up in the corner of one the name Western Allenbee is written. Is it possible that Arabee Oil and Gas changed their name to Western Allenbee? I am wondering if these certificates hold any value and any information you can provide would be received most gratefully.

Answer
Randolph, from the information I have available, it is true that Arabee became Western Allenbee, but in between there was another name change, and after Western Allenbee there were at least 3 more. Unfortunately, almost every name change came with a reverse stock split, and in one case it was a massive 1 for 500 reverse split. Eventually, the companies became Midland Holland, but starting from Arabee, your father would have had to have 25,000 shares of Arabee to have just 1 share of Midland Holland. Since most people did not have that many shares, the trail pretty much ends there, although Midland has since changed its name 3 times more and is now Grand Peak Capital.