Jester,

Yes, you've got the gist of my post. It looks like a normal, sensible stock swap, but everything we've been told disconfirms that.  I recall my broker saing unequivocally that it is a taxable event, even though he couldn't put a date to it. I'm thinking about calling the broker to see what is up with that, although they've not been exactly a font of reliable info. The 'accreted value' of the ST gains in the stock appears to have been accounted for in the avg. share price vs. the current market price - but all of that relating to NOK. 'Twould be very excellent if there is no 'taxable event', but I'm skpetical.