Advice needed - Transfer of shares from Spain to U.K. broker?

Hoots04

I need to transfer shares held in a company scheme in Spain to a personal account. However, with each UK broker I've tried to arrange this with, it gets rejected by my current broker in Spain because they are unable to follow the CREST transfer process.  The advice they've given is that the new broker needs to accept shares as per the Spanish market process and complete their re-registration as per Spanish market practice.  However, every UK broker I've spoken too say they only transfer via CREST.
I don't know how I'm meant to transfer the shares and my ex employer cannot give any further advise! At this rate I will end up selling the shares but I am reluctant to do this given current market. 

Notepad_Phil

I'm afraid that I can't help with how to transfer them. But if your company is available as a CDI (CREST Depository Interest) then if you can't find any other way then you could sell and reinvest on somewhere like AJ Bell ( https://www.youinvest.co.uk/faq/what-international-markets-can-i-deal ) which will allow you to invest in Spanish shares available as CDIs.

However you might want to take this as an opportunity to branch out to the wider investment market if these shares are a big part of your assets.

There's nothing wrong with participating in schemes where you can get company shares at a discount, but personally I wouldn't hold too great a number in any one company as there's always a risk that they could start on a long and slow (or even short and quick) downrating.

Thrugelmir

Hoots04 said:

 At this rate I will end up selling the shares but I am reluctant to do this given current market. 

Which UK stockbrokers have you tried? 

steampowered

Can you sell the shares in Spain, then immediately rebuy the same number of shares via a UK broker? That would get you where you want to be without needing to transfer brokers.

When you rebuy the shares in the UK, you can do that in a stocks & shares ISA. This will have the benefit of ensuring that future growth and dividends on the shares are tax free - currently returns on your shares will be taxed.

Anyway, the general advice is to sell any shares you get through work as soon as possible. Replace them with a diversified multi-asset investment fund, such as a Vanguard fund.

It is risky to hold a chunk of your money in a single company - lots of people on here have been badly burned doing that.

Hoots04

Thrugelmir said:

Hoots04 said:

 At this rate I will end up selling the shares but I am reluctant to do this given current market. 

Which UK stockbrokers have you tried? 

HL, II, Fidelity and emails were sent to BNP and Societie General but they never responded. Any ideas on who else I could try? The fund value is not huge and so I'd like to avoid high fees if possible.