Corporate action events
SHPR: Shares Premium Dividend
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SHPR announces a cash payment to shareholders out of the company’s share premium reserve. It looks like a dividend, but because it comes from paid-in capital it is often taxed differently. It is mandatory.
- Code
- SHPR
- Usually announced as
- MAND
What SHPR means
The share premium reserve holds the amount shareholders paid above the nominal value when shares were issued. Some companies distribute part of it to shareholders. The payment works like a cash dividend: a gross rate per share (:92a::GRSS), ex date, record date and payment date.
The difference is the source. A payment from paid-in capital is in many jurisdictions treated as a return of capital rather than income, which can change withholding tax and the holder’s cost basis. That is why it has its own code instead of DVCA. The ECB SCoRE rulebook and Clearstream list SHPR as MAND with CASH.
When you see it
- In an MT564 with
MAND, the gross rate, the ex date (:98a::XDTE), the record date and the payment date, typically in European markets where companies distribute share premium. - SHPR vs DVCA: DVCA is paid out of profits. SHPR vs CAPD: CAPD is a cash distribution from the capital account; both are capital-type payments but recorded under different reserves. A share premium payment in shares instead of cash can appear as a
BSPL(bonus share plan) option in an election event.
What to do next
- No instruction. Check the tax treatment in the notification: do not apply the ordinary dividend withholding rate or book the cash as income without confirming.
- On the MT566, reconcile gross, tax and net amounts. If tax was withheld but the payment is a return of capital in the holder’s jurisdiction, raise it with the account servicer early.
- Adjust the holder’s cost basis where the payment counts as a return of capital.
Where it appears in MT and ISO 20022
MT (ISO 15022)
- MT564 sequence A (GENL),
:22F::CAEV//SHPRwith:22F::CAMV//MAND; sequence E,:92a::GRSS - MT566 sequence A,
:22F::CAEV//SHPR; sequence D2,:19B::GRSS,:19B::TAXR,:19B::NETT