POS/HRZ Merger Tax Implications, page-2

Although I didn't get any responses I thought I'd update this thread with what I could find out myself.

First, and I know it's potentially misleading or plain incorrect, I had a conversation with AI (I also planned to verify any responses).

I asked it exactly this, providing no other information (dates, figures etc).

"For the Posiden (POS) shareholders that went through the POS/HRZ merger process. Using this example (ignoring CGT discount, brokerage etc): POS Qty 50,000 purchased at 0.05, therefore total cost $2,500. After conversion, HRZ Qty 5780.

What price did I pay per HRZ share, and on what date?"

It came back with:

• Conversion Ratio: 0.1156 HRZ shares for every 1 POS share.
• Record Date: 12 February 2025.
• Implementation Date: 19 February 2025.
• Cost per HRZ share: 2500 (Total Cost) / 5780 (HRZ Shares Received) = $0.4325
• Acquisition Date for CGT Purposes: 19 February 2025

Note, the above would appear to be a mix of scrip for scrip (cost price) and disposal (date).

What price did I sell POS shares at?

To determine the price at which you effectively sold your POS shares, we can use the HRZ shares you received and their market value on the implementation date of the merger, which was 19 February 2025.

On 19 February 2025, the closing price of Horizon Minerals (HRZ) shares was $0.069.

You received 5,780 HRZ shares in exchange for 50,000 POS shares.

Total value of HRZ shares = 5,780 * 0.069 = $398.82

Effective sale price per POS share = 398.82 / 50,000 = $0.00798

Date of sale (merger implementation): 19 February 2025

What is cost base of HRZ shares that isn't scrip for scrip?

Cost base per HRZ share = Market value on acquisition date = $0.069

Total cost base for HRZ shares = $398.82

Acquisition date = 19 February 2025

To verify, I went hunting again for non-AI examples and found the St George/Westpac Merger on the ATO website.

https://www.ato.gov.au/forms-and-instructions/st-george-westpac-merger

The ATO information around that merger appears to match the logic used in the AI responses, i.e.

• The implementation date is the date used for acquisition of the new shares.
• Market value of the shares received seemed to be based on the implementation date (although the price provided on the ATO fact sheet didn't match exactly the opening or closing price for that date based on historical lookups I've done).

The calculations done in ATO fact sheet are done differently to the AI example but end up with the same end result.

ATO logic with POS/HRZ figures:

• 0.1156 (Ratio) * 0.069 (Market Price) = 0.0079764 (Matches AI's sale price per POS share)
• 50,000 * 0.0079764 = $398.82 (Matches AI's total value of HRZ shares)

The ATO St George/Westpac Merger example and AI response match, as far as the resulting figures anyway. I feel that probably means I could take either approach for the POS/HRZ merger, when disposing of POS as part of the merger rather than a scrip for scrip rollover.