Thanks to an answer to a recent question, I just discovered unclaimed
shares in the name of my deceased father that were apparently missed
in the settlement due to an exchange of stock:
"Stock Information:   	28.000 SHARES REPORTED FOR RALCORP EXCHANGE TO GENER P
Reported By:  	GENERAL MILLS, INC."

This might have happened in 1992-93.
What would the $ value of the exchange have been, and what current value, please.
Cynthia-ga, can you help me?

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Request for Question Clarification by cynthia-ga on 07 Jul 2005 16:39 PDT

After a preliminary search, I'd run out and buy a box of CHEX right
away.  What a score.

I don't have a definitive answer, so I'm posting in the clarification
area. Look this over and comment back...


The value of the shares today depend on the number of splits between
then and now.  This is difficult to calculate, initially because you
don't have an exact date of purchase, and mainly because I have never
researched old stocks before, and finally because my computer will not
fully open a critical file.. It opens halfway and freezes.

In 1992/1993 - the 28 shares would have been from the Ralston Purina Company.

In 1994 Ralston Purina spun-off Ralcorp, so the original stocks were
Ralston Purina. In 1996, General Mills acquired the Ralcorp spin-off.

There's a Ralcorp Investment Calculator here:
http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=RAH&script=345&layout=11&item_id=RAH

I entered the first date available:  Dec 30, 1994 and "28 shares" -
the resulting amount is $1,159.76

This is not accurate, because the stock undoubtedly split between
1992/3 and 1994. I found a split in 1992/3 in that file that I could
not fully open.

If it split once before then, to 56 shares, the figure would change to $2,319.52

I need the date General Mills reported the 28 shares to go forward,
there's too many variables in that 2 year span 1992/3.  In any event,
the [then] 28 shares are going to be paying for your Internet
connection for a very long time.



REFERENCE:

Stock Purchase Price
http://www.nestleusa.com/PubAbout/irppcStockPurchasePrice.aspx
..."The attached files contain historical prices for Ralston Purina
Company stock. The information includes the following daily stock
prices: open, high, low, and close. These prices are actual prices on
each date and have not been adjusted for subsequent splits and
spin-offs..."


Open this, I can't:

1990-1994
http://www.nestleusa.com/PubAbout/Ralston_Stock_Price_from_1990_to_1994.html
Split:  1992 (my computer won't fully open this file to get the exact
date of the split/s)



1994:  Ralston Purina Company created Ralcorp 
(Ralcorp's primary RTE cereals include Corn CHEX, Rice CHEX, and Wheat
CHEX. Ralcorp is the nation's fifth largest producer of branded RTE
[ready-to-eat] cereals and the largest producer of private label RTE
cereals.)

1996:  Ralcorp was acquired by General Mills.  


Ralcorp - Historical Price Lookup
http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=RAH&script=340&layout=11&item_id=RAH
December 1994 is the earliest I could find at Ralcorp's web site:

Date requested: 30-Dec-1994  	 
Closing Price:  $22.25

Date requested: 06-Jul-2005  	
Closing Price:  $42.10   [splits not taken into account]

Ralcorp Holdings, Inc. was established in 1994 following its spin-off
from former parent Ralston Purina, and is known for its position as a
leader in the world of private or store brand labels.
Ralston Purina Company - founded in 1894 and today is the world's
largest producer of dry dog and dry soft-moist cat foods.


1996 document at the FTC web site:

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
http://www.ftc.gov/os/1997/05/c3742cmp.htm  EXCERPTS:
..."

II. Ralcorp Holdings, Inc.
4. In 1994, the Ralston Purina Company created Ralcorp, as a wholly
owned subsidiary, and then distributed Ralcorp's shares to Ralston
Purina's shareholders.

IV. The Acquisition
7. On or about August 13, 1996, General Mills and Ralcorp entered into
an agreement for General Mills to acquire Ralcorp's branded RTE cereal
and snack mix businesses. In exchange for these businesses, General
Mills agreed to give Ralcorp's shareholders General Mills' common
stock and to assume certain Ralcorp debt. The total value of this
consideration is approximately $570 million. ..."

Ralston Purina Company - Investor page
http://www.purina.com/company/Investor.aspxhttp://www.purina.com/company/Investor.aspx
On December 12, 2001, Ralston Purina Company was acquired by Nestlé
S.A. Ralston Purina was then merged with a subsidiary of Nestlé. The
resulting company, Nestlé Purina PetCare Company, is not a publicly
traded company.


Stock and Bond Certificates, Old
http://www.sec.gov/answers/oldcer.htm
Help in determining value.


~~Cynthia

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Clarification of Question by myoarin-ga on 07 Jul 2005 19:59 PDT

Cynthia, 
Thanks, that is a lot of good leg work.
If I understand correctly, the 28 shares of Ralcorp are being held now
by General Mills.  Right?
Or are they General Mills shares?
I also could not find details of the takeover

I ran the 28 shares through the link under "Ralcorp - Historical Price
Lookup" and also came up with $ 1,159 - and the indication of no stock
split subsequent to 94.

If you can confirm that the shares are Ralcorp  (or G.M.), I will be
happy with that as an answer, considering both that you aren't an
expert on this kind of question  - and especially that you have
already helped immensely by just guiding me to the "unclaimed" site. 
:)

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Request for Question Clarification by cynthia-ga on 07 Jul 2005 20:36 PDT

myoarin,

I'm looking for confirmation the shares are being held by General
Mills, as opposed to being General Mills shares. I read something
about it, and I'll have to go through my search history.

If you scroll down this page s l o w l y :
1990-1994
http://www.nestleusa.com/PubAbout/Ralston_Stock_Price_from_1990_to_1994.html
--there is a split between 1991 and 1993, somewhere in late 91 or 92,
my computer kept freezing before it could load. You'll need to
consider that, as it may have split after your father acquired them,
which would double the amount.

Also, there's an option to pursue the claim at that unclaimed funds site.

Just for reference:

Here's Ralcorp's SEC Filings (note other reports at the left)
http://nocache.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=RAH&script=800&layout=12

~~Cynthia

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Request for Question Clarification by cynthia-ga on 07 Jul 2005 20:37 PDT

Corrected link:

http://www.nestleusa.com/PubAbout/Ralston_Stock_Price_from_1990_to_1994.html

---

Clarification of Question by myoarin-ga on 08 Jul 2005 06:26 PDT

Thanks Cynthia,
That split was before my father died (unfortunately, both ways).
Funny thing, as soon as I emailed my sisters about this, one replied,
copying a message from her daughter about a site that suggests others
for unclaimed assets:

http://lawlibrary.ucdavis.edu/LAWLIB/June05/0347.html

The author, Michael Ravnitzky, seems to be a real beagle on using govt
sites and telling how, at least from the titles of the many hits on
his name.

I'll do some more scouting myself.  Till later, Myoarin

ANY RESEARCHER who does know about him might be interested.

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Clarification of Question by myoarin-ga on 10 Jul 2005 15:14 PDT

Cynthia-ga,
Thank you for all your good work.  Please post the valuation that I
asked for and that you found as an answer.  (I want you to have a box
of Chex too.)  :-)
Thre are lots of question here that may save someone money or time,
but very few that give an unexpected cash return, plus the educational
entertainment value.
OK?  Myoarin

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Clarification of Question by myoarin-ga on 18 Jul 2005 15:45 PDT

Dear Cynthia-ga,

If you are going to be like that ...,  all I can do is say how much I
appreciate your having helped me.  Thank you!  Maybe I can ask another
question sometime that you will really answer.

Cynthia is like the moon,
(The meaning of her name),
The brightest in the gloom,
Bringing light into the same,
For benighted nameless souls,
Who search the web in vain.

Myoarin

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Request for Question Clarification by cynthia-ga on 19 Jul 2005 02:08 PDT

Myoarin,

Thanks for the getting back to me, and your patience...

I'll gladly accept your free box/es of Chex! --however I want to poke
around a bit more before I post [anything resembling] an answer, even
if you are happy with the finding of your unclaimed funds, I want to
be sure I have found all that there is to be found, or everything I
can find, --considering my unfamiliarity with how to search the
subject.

I've also been helping my brother with a personal
[relationship/$$/breakup] problem and have been distracted for the
last couple weeks.  I have answered only two quick questions, and made
very few comments since your posting of this question, I'm not
ignoring you, I really want to give your question another serious
go-around, at least a couple more hours.

Mostly, I am really happy to have posted the unclaimed funds link that
has led you to some funds. {I'm really glad it was YOU!]

I mentioned YOUR finding of some 'fairly substantial' funds to a few
friends, which has led to even more funds being found. They have me
checking relatives and friends....  I'll have to draw the line soon...

It's kinda like when you own a truck, people always ask you to help
them move...... when you're a Google Answers Researcher, people always
ask you to "find this or that."  Between them, and my brother, and the
Dentist, I am barely able to check the GA site...

I'm watching the expiration date, don't worry, I'll post an Answer.

I LOVE YOUR POEM, THANK YOU.

~~Cyndy

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Clarification of Question by myoarin-ga on 19 Jul 2005 04:07 PDT

HI and thanks for troubling to reply.   Sorry about the problems.  You
know there is absolutely no hurry on this (except the expiry date: 
Aug. 6, 5am PDT).

The moon is waxing, take care, Myoarin

i have a few things to tell you that i think will be of value. i
should say that i haven't carefully checked the entire thread so along
the way i might tell you something you already know. so be it.

starting at the beginning. the discussion of ralston purina and
anything about it is a red herring. you should forget that in this
pursuit. as it appears to me that you indicated that what you have is
ralcorp stock, anything that happened to ralston prior to acquisition
of the ralcorp would already be accounted for. whether the ralcorp was
acquired from ralston or later as a market purchase anything that
predates this acquistion is of no consequence to the instant case. now
if you have ralston purina shares that is a different issue.

after that you seem a bit vague on what the construct of the deal
between ralcorp and general mills was. leaving out some details,
basically what happened is this. ralcorp was generally in two
businesses. branded cereal/snack food and private label food.

ralcorp agreed to sell the branded and snack foods to general mills
and retain the private label business. they created a new ralcorp
holdings and did a spinoff into the new corporate entity of the
businesses they were to retain. they then merged what remained of old
ralcorp into a sub of general mills. for tax reasons the deal was a
bit complicated and i've skipped a detail or two but basically that's
it.

new ralcorp shares were distributed to old ralcorp shareholders so
there may be some question as to which ralcorp shares you hold. while
new ralcorp shares were simply sent to old ralcorp holders with no
exchange requirement, in order to obtain the general mills shares
there was a letter of transmittal and the shares had to be
surrendered. it would seem therefore that if you are holding old
ralcorp shares then the exchange for general mills shares is yet to be
completed. if you are holding new ralcorp shares they should have a
value seperate and distinct from the general mills shares due on
surrender of old ralcorp shares. it remains to be seen if you are
holding new ralcorp shares if at some time the exchange was completed
and the general mills shares liquidated at some other time. i can't
quite tell from the information you have offered. at least not from
the parts i viewed.

the agreement was entered into in august of 1996. the deal didn't
close until january 31, 1997. old ralcorp holders had to do nothing to
receive their new ralcorp shares. there was a formula for the exchange
to general mills i won't bother with here but in the end general mills
paid 570 mill for the business. about 355 million in general mills
shares and about 215 million in assumed debt of ralcorp. the expected
rate of exchange was about .154 shares of general mills for each share
of ralcorp. as there was a closing stock price component in the
formula it is unlikely it went exactly at the fraction. i didn't go
look up the final number but you can be sure it wasn't too far from
there. so for the purpose of this discussion it's close enough for
rock and roll.

there seems to be some discussion relating to this quote, "I'm looking
for confirmation the shares are being held by General Mills, as
opposed to being General Mills shares." i don't even know what that
means. general mills, through their transfer agent will only be a
depostory for general mills shares. there is no circumstance where
general mills would be holding, warehousing or otherwise involved with
any other certificates. the only time general mills would have had
your old ralcorp shares was long enough to convert them to general
mills shares and fractional share cash and destroy them. so unless you
can enlighten me as to what this statement means and i can react to
that, i am going to assume it to be meaningless.

in the end, you are going about this the hardest way possible. you
believe your father is a shareholder of record in either new ralcorp,
general mills or both. i seriously suggest you simply contact either
shareholder relations at the respective companies or the transfer
agent of each. tell them who you are and what you want to know. they
will look it up and tell you if anyone named, your dad, is a
shareholder of record. they will also tell you how much and how to
either get it or liquidate it. you can continue to search and google
yourself to death or you can just go ask the to entities who's
function in the world is to know if dad owns any stock in their
company.

personally, and i'm speaking just for me, i wouldn't pay anyone a fee
to find out what you can find out for the asking. if your father is a
shareholder of record and you can prove who you are and that you are
entitled to the information, they will tell you. if their is some
stock, it's yours and they will gladly hand it over. the only thing
they won't know is, for example, dad had some stock in street name at
a brokerage house somewhere. if he chose not to disclose his identity
to the issuing company then the only one who knows his holdings are
there is him and the brokerage firm. if you haven't discovered the
account then they don't know where that stock is and neither do you.
as brokerage firms are required to send account statements no less
then quarterly and if at his death his mailing address was current it
is unlikely that you haven't heard from them. so while i don't think
that is the case in this case, it cost me nothing to include it. so
there you go.

hope you find you have some of both companies and can cash a small
winning ticket for the price of a couple of phone calls or a letter.
good luck and happy hunting.

Thanks Elwtee-ga,
That was very interesting, and additional information.  You are right
in your final remarks; I guess I could just go a head and put in a
claim for the shares, which I will doo  - have the forms already  -
but I was still curious, or was before I realized that I could claim
and wanted to know more.
To be honest, living in Germany so long, where a point instead of a
comma is used to set of thousands, I had reall glisten eyes (which has
somethimg to do with the price that I set, but it is still worth in
consideration that without Cynthia-ga's answer to another question, I
would have never found this) - before I remembered that there had been
a couple of unsettled amounts in the inheritance, which could only
have bee fractional remainders after a share exchange that got hung up
when the original account was closed before they could be deposited 
(my interpretation).

My question was really about whether the shares were GM or Ralcorp,
but I guess that only got correctly expressed in the clarification  -
and from what I have found, Ralcorp seems the better hope.

Anyway, thanks for your detailed effort.  I had been wondering about
the ratio of the stock exchange, if 28 shares of Ralcorp could not be
included.  I am still wondering, but it is not important.

Cheers, Myoarin

i'm glad you found some of that interesting and of some value. i would
reiterate that while you seem to feel that what you hold is ralcorp
and likely new ralcorp, i would check with general mills anyway. if
what you have is new ralcorp the possibility exists that the old
ralcorp cert was delivered to general mills for conversion. assuming
that happened the possibility exists the the gis certificate was
issued and lost or never delivered. in either case, your dad could
still be a shareholder of record at general mills. from the
information at hand i can't tell but i wouldn't not ask because asking
is free. if the gis shares were issued and delivered and subsequently
misplaced, shareholder relations or the transfer agent will be able to
tell you what they require to claim the shares.

you are still wondering about something in the exchange ratio but said
it isn't important. if you decide it is, if you can state the
question, i can likely supply you answer.

Thanks again, Elwtee-ga,
It is now mostly just curiosity.  I'll find out when I have sent in the forms.
Whatever is there is all there is.
Take care, Myoarin