An alternative is a share exchange scheme, whereby you can swap shares for a holding in a unit or investment trust.

Oil analysts said Statoil may seek to swap shares in undeveloped oilfields for a share in British production.

Another strategy might involve an exchange, in which Viacom shareholders could choose to swap shares of their stock for shares of Blockbuster.

Professional traders now swap shares over an electronic trading system.

The boards could swap shares for debt held by banks, trade shares with other enterprises or sell more shares to workers and managers.

There was less conviction that shareholders would be willing to swap shares for the packages of new securities, something that is required to get the plan started.

Indonesia's two state-owned telecommunications companies announced a $1.5 billion deal yesterday to swap shares in the other's subsidiaries, including stakes in the country's two largest cellular operators.

Instead, the central bank has been letting institutions invest overseas by swapping shares with foreign corporations.

THE technology that allows users to share music files over the Internet is also proving useful in swapping shares of stock.

It let individual traders swap shares inside the system - without help from the big Wall Street firms.