Almost four months ago I wrote a blog post about Sorrento Tech, formerly known as Roka Bioscience (NASDAQ:ROKA), thinking I probably got screwed out of a liquidation payment. I bought shares on the last day of trading on December 28, 2017 while the company closed it stock transfer books on the same date, probably giving no thought to the fact that it takes two days for trades to settle. In 2018 the company announced its first liquidation distribution, and with a record date of December 28, 2017 it seemed like people who bought shares in the last two days of trading were out of luck.

Not how it should be, because when I bought the shares they weren’t trading ex-dividend, and as the legal owner of the shares I should be entitled to any and all future distributions. But being right is one thing, getting paid what you deserve is something else. Luckily the company proved willing to work with DTC to resolve the situation, and while it took a couple of months, DTC rescinded the original payment last month and made the new distribution payable to beneficial owners as of October 24, 2018. Most brokers processed the new payment instruction on March 1st, but for some reason it took Interactive Brokers a full three weeks more. A little bit annoying, but quite happy that this mess finally got resolved :).

I would also like to thank all the readers that contacted me about the situation with tips and information about their attempts to get the situation fixed. It’s pretty amazing to be able to find people who are in the same situation as you, especially when we are talking about two days of trading in a $4 million market cap company. Doesn’t get much more obscure than that!

Disclosure

Author is long ROKA

Last year I bought some shares of Sorrento Tech, formerly known as Roka Bioscience (NASDAQ:ROKA), on its last trading day, December 28, 2017. Today the first liquidation distribution finally showed up on my brokerage statement, but to my unpleasant surprise only shares that I bought earlier got the distribution. After checking with my broker they told me, and I will quote their response below, this was as it should be because the company set an ex-dividend date of December 28, 2017.

Per DTC comments:
The First Interim Liquidating Distribution in the aggregate amount of $3,199,137.92, payable to the holders of the Record Date being December 28, 2017 on November 9, 2018 (the “Payable Date “) be,and hereby is, declared payable on November 9, 2018; and it is further.

Given that I bought the shares on December 28, 2017 and it takes two days to settle trades I didn’t get anything. So the question? Is this possible? Did someone screw-up? The company had not set any ex-dividend date in the proxy statement related to the liquidation, although it did state that it would close its stock transfer books at the close of business on such date.

To me it seems that someone made a mistake, and I don’t think it’s me. If the stock isn’t trading ex-dividend when I’m buying it, I should in theory get the rights to any potential future payment. But the question is, who screwed up? The liquidating company? DTCC? My broker? And what can I do about it? Any readers with a good idea?

Disclosure

Author seems to be long a bunch of ROKA shares that might be worthless.