Modelling a class action (CLSA)

You can model a cash dividend as a corporate action of type ClassActionEvent in LUSID. See all supported corporate actions.

Note the following:

• ClassActionEvent is valid for instruments of type Equity and SimpleInstrument.

• The entitlement date is the classPeriodStart specified when you load ClassActionEvent, not exDate or recordDate.

• The settlement amount is not calculated by LUSID. It is a flat cash amount, already determined externally by the settlement fund's claims administrator, and supplied directly when you load the event. It does not scale with the number of instrument units held.

• The transaction date and settlement date of the automatically-generated output transaction are both paymentDate.

Loading ClassActionEvent

You must load ClassActionEvent into a corporate action source registered with one or more portfolios. The event then impacts every portfolio with a holding in the underlying instrument. See how to do this.

For more information on fields, see the ClassActionEvent schema. Where set, the following date validation rules apply:
classPeriodStart ≤ classPeriodEnd ≤ filingDeadline ≤ paymentDate

Only one participation type is valid, and you must specify two elections:

Note there is no silent default payment; a holder who takes no action receives nothing.

Instructing to settle per portfolio

ClassActionEvent is Voluntary, so you must instruct to receive the election.

To do this, load an event instruction into a portfolio. Note this is not an event, and you do not load it into a corporate action source, which means you can instruct or not in different portfolios. See how to do this.

Note the instructionType must be ElectForHolding, with electionKey set to CASH and quantityInstructed to 100 (for 100%). ElectForPortfolio is not supported by ClassActionEvent.

Configuring the economic impact

You must create a ClassActionSettle transaction type to handle the automatically-generated output transaction. This is not provided for you. See our recommendation.

You can give a transaction type any economic impact you like. Our recommendation:

• Creates or updates a cash holding in the settlement currency.

• Reports the cash as income using the ProfitAndLoss/Total/Other metric.

• Does not change the units and cost of the underlying instrument, so ProfitAndLoss/Realised/* and ProfitAndLoss/Unrealised/* metrics are unchanged.

Reference example

[
  {
    "instrumentEventId": "CLSA-EK8115793-2026",
    "instrumentIdentifiers": {
      "Instrument/default/ClientInternal": "EK8115793"
    },
    "description": "Class action settlement - EK8115793",
    "instrumentEvent": {
      "instrumentEventType": "ClassActionEvent",
      "paymentDate": "2026-10-01T00:00:00.0000000+00:00",
      "filingDeadline": "2026-09-15T00:00:00.0000000+00:00",
      "classPeriodStart": "2023-01-01T00:00:00.0000000+00:00",
      "classPeriodEnd": "2024-06-30T00:00:00.0000000+00:00",
      "caseReference": "CLSA-EK8115793-2026",
      "cashOfferElections": [
        {
          "electionKey": "CASH",
          "isDefault": false,
          "isChosen": false,
          "cashOfferPrice": 10000.00,
          "cashOfferCurrency": "EUR"
        }
      ],
      "lapseElections": [
        {
          "electionKey": "NOAC",
          "isDefault": true,
          "isChosen": false
        }
      ]
    },
    "participationType": "Voluntary"
  }
]