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I have received an email from RAM SOLUTIONS GROUP offering to buy my shares at a higher price than I paid.

How do I check this company is genuine?

corning
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Charles
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    Are they publicly traded shares? If so, why are they not just buying them on an exchange? – Acccumulation Mar 20 '18 at 20:20
  • Your location? Contacting you by email is illegal in EU unless they have your contact from previous business dealings. – Sentinel Mar 20 '18 at 20:22
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    I've deleted a bunch of comments that are really discussing an answer (which was previously posted in abbreviated form in a comment). If you really must challenge the answer, comment on that answer instead, but any extended discussion will be subject to deletion as usual. – GS - Apologise to Monica Mar 21 '18 at 12:10

2 Answers2

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Things to look for:

  • They contacted you first. You always have to ask yourself how they came by your contact. If they have a really good product, they would not have to SPAM to sell it. Clarification, due to some comments: By "they contacted you first" I mean you do not know them, it is not something forwarded by your bank/broker etc. and you never purchased anything from them.

  • They have insufficient info on their homepage. Who is CEO, what legal form does this Company have, where is it registered. Which financial authorities govern it?

  • Do they have a normal telephone-number? Does somebody answer if you call?

  • They reside outside of your jurisdiction. Always a warning sign - if you have any complaints it will be very hard and expensive to take legal action.

Daniel
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  • This is a good answer, but @MSalter's answer also contains valid points. If the offer is part of a buyout or a settlement, there will be details about that with the offer, but that offer could originate from any number of legitimate third parties. There are banks and non-financial companies that intermediate such transactions or just expedite a portion of it (like finding shareholders). In addition to your points, it's worth looking at the detail of what they sent. It's probably a scam, but it's worth remembering that in the financial markets the legit folks are not great at looking legit. – K_foxer9 Mar 20 '18 at 16:08
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I have received non-scam emails containing an offer to buy my shares, but (1) they were from the bank that manages my shares, and (2) it was in reaction to a public offer for those shares. So it was a higher price than I paid, but that is normal in a take-over bid.

Further signs of a non-scam bid: there is a public, legal document describing the offer, and the buyer mentions its own bank or financial institute. There will almost certainly be a provision that the offer is conditional on enough current share owners selling, and a reasonable cut-off date after which the bidder will announce whether it received enough offers.

MSalters
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    I have received non-scam emails - The point is, you contacted them first, back when you opened your account. – Daniel Mar 20 '18 at 13:49
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    @Daniel: Sort of. It's not my bank who is making the offer, and I did not contact the company who made the offer. But the bank is a trusted and regulated intermediary. – MSalters Mar 20 '18 at 15:41
  • @MSalters Location? EU laws prohibit this. – Sentinel Mar 20 '18 at 20:24
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    @Sentinel, is it? Can I genuinely not contact a financial institution and ask "please convey this offer to all of your clients who you know hold shares in corporation X"? – Mark Mar 20 '18 at 21:52
  • @Mark. You are right, I misunderstood MSalters comment "It is not my bank making the offer". I am not clear now on who emailed whom. – Sentinel Mar 21 '18 at 04:54
  • @Sentinel: Netherlands. The bank emailed me to forward a public offer. They don't have a direct financial interest, other than receiving a broker fee when I sell the shares (to the bidder or anyone else). – MSalters Mar 21 '18 at 07:51
  • @MSalters. I see, then no EU anti-spam laws do not apply, IMO – Sentinel Mar 21 '18 at 08:15
  • @MSalters: The point is, you got the mail from your Bank. You can easily verify by calling your bank and asking Is this offer legit?. You will probably make the transaction through the bank. An they will have some liability for it. That is entirely different than OP´s situation. – Daniel Mar 21 '18 at 08:32
  • @Sentinel: EU-Laws don´t forbid B-to-B offers (Some acquisition company to Bank) and also not B-to-C offers (Bank to MSalters) when you have an existing relationship to that customer. – Daniel Mar 21 '18 at 08:35
  • @Daniel: It's not a bank-to-consumer offer. The bank isn't offering, they're just passing the message. Also, consumer/customer law doesn't really apply here. I am of course a natural person, but as a share holder I am significantly less protected than as a consumer. – MSalters Mar 21 '18 at 09:35
  • The EU-Laws do not regulate on making an offer, but on making unsolicited contact. The Bank is responsible for making contact in this case. (unless I am mistaken and you really got a mail from the buyer, addressed directly to you) – Daniel Mar 21 '18 at 09:46
  • @Daniel. Agreed. If bank contacted MSalters and did not share MSalters info with buyer, then it is legit – Sentinel Mar 21 '18 at 11:55