The Board of Directors took notice of the information on Gazprom’s shares floating in the foreign market and on how to improve this process.
The Board of Directors approved the supplementary agreement between Gazprom and the Bank of New York Mellon to reduce the number of the Company’s ordinary shares representing one American Depositary Receipt (ADR) from four to two.
This will open up the access to Gazprom’s ADRs for a wider range of investors and increase the receipts liquidity, thus contributing to long-term growth in the Company’s market value.
Background
ADR is a receipt issued against the shares of a non-US company deposited in a US bank and publicly traded in the foreign stock market.
ADR is a form of international stock trade. In autumn 1996 Gazprom placed shares in the international market in the form of ADRs having inked a Depositary Agreement with the Bank of New York.
In April 2006 the Company launched the Level I ADR issue program allowing for Gazprom’s ordinary shares conversion into ADRs, and vice versa. At present, Gazprom’s ADRs are listed on the London Stock Exchange, traded in the US over-the-counter stock market and on European stock exchanges, namely the Berlin and Frankfurt Stock Exchanges.
As at the end of 2010, 27.57 per cent of Gazprom’s shares were floating in the form of ADRs. The current price of Gazprom’s ADR on the London Stock Exchange is some USD 25.
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Source: Gazprom, January 20, 2011;