THE TOOL OF CHOICE TO DISENFRANCHISE PRIVATE INVESTORS
This is where some London Stock Exchange listed firms migrate to, in order to marginalise private investors under the banner of "reduced listing costs and regulation".
If, like me, you receive notification that a company you have invested in has decided to re-list on TISE, may God help you. This is what will happen:
1. In the unlikely event your share dealing provider allows you to continue to hold your shares, you will not be able to trade them. Most likely your broker will ask you to sell your holding, otherwise you face your shares being issued to you in certificated form and outside any tax shelter they may be contained within.
2. If you are forced to sell your shares before the delisting, you will likely get a poor price as you queue up with other desperate shareholders to exit your position. In my case I sold my shares while a large principal shareholder bought them at a bargain price. Private investors suffered to the benefit of the principal shareholder.
3. There will be uncertainty as to whether you will ever be able to sell your shares, because the issuer decides when auction events are held on TISE. Even if the firm decides to hold auction events, you will have to find a channel to sell them through. Given no popular share dealing providers have access to TISE, it is unclear how you would go about this.
4. If you continue to hold your shares, you will face the uncertainty of diminished regulation when the company migrates, meaning you’ll have fewer protections.
A company I have been a shareholder in for many years, Highcroft Investments PLC (a UK REIT), is currently making the transition from the LSE to TISE, and my experience has been as outlined above. I have incurred a large loss as a result, much to the indifference, I am sure, to both TISE and the board of directors of Highcroft Investments PLC.