Vodafone has reached the milestone of one billion depositary receipts (DRs) outstanding, according to BNY Mellon.
Vodafone currently has the largest number of DRs outstanding of any Western European company and of any telecom company in the world.
BNY Mellon serves as the depositary bank for Vodafone’s American Depositary Receipt (ADR) programme, listed and traded in US dollar-denominated form on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the symbol “VOD”.
The Western European companies with the largest number of DRs outstanding after Vodafone are BP, Nokia, Royal Dutch Shell and GlaxoSmithKline.
Andy Halford, chief financial officer at Vodafone, says: “We have made the DR a core part of our investor relations strategy, as we seek to grow ownership of Vodafone among domestic and international funds in the US Over 20 per cent of Vodafone shares are now held through depositary receipts, reflecting the appetite in the US for stocks with attractive dividend yields and strong exposure to the U.S. market. BNY Mellon, our depositary bank, has been an outstanding partner, providing consistently great service to us and our US based investors."
Christopher M Kearns, chief executive of BNY Mellon’s depositary receipts business, says: “We’d like to congratulate Vodafone on reaching this significant milestone. It’s a testament to the popularity of DRs, both for companies that want to list their shares on global markets and for investors looking to diversify their portfolio outside of their home market. Vodafone joins a select few firms that comprise the ‘Billion DRs Club’.”
