The Bank of New York Announces Change in ADR Index

The Bank of New York announced that, effective December 24th 2001, The Bank of New York ADR IndexSM will be converting to free float adjusted shares from full market capitalization. Free float market capitalization reflects the number of shares actually

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The Bank of New York announced that, effective December 24th 2001, The Bank of New York ADR IndexSM will be converting to free-float adjusted shares from full market capitalization. Free float market capitalization reflects the number of shares actually available to the general investment community. The Bank of New York will utilize Dow Jones Indexes’ methodology for free float. Dow Jones and Company, Inc. is the calculation agent for The Bank of New York ADR IndicesSM.

Share adjustments are made to account for shares which comprise 5% or more of the share capital of a company and which are unlikely to become available to the public, such as shares owned by a government, shares which are privately held, restricted shares and non-U.S. shares which are unavailable because of home country limitations on foreign ownership. For foreign ownership restrictions of 5% or more, the lesser of the number of free-float shares or shares available for foreign investment are used.

“This new relationship allows us to leverage our expertise in index calculation and is a significant confirmation of the Dow Jones Indexes free-float methodology,” said David Moran, president of Dow Jones Indexes. “The Bank of New York is a leader in the ADR market and we will work closely with them to enhance and improve the real-time benchmarking of all sectors of the ADR marketplace for the benefit of investors and issuers worldwide.”

Joseph M. Velli, senior executive vice president and head of The Bank of New York’s Worldwide Securities Services Sector, said, “By using free-float adjusted shares, our indices are reflective of the trend followed by many other index providers who have or are in the process of converting to this new methodology. This change continues to highlight our expertise in tracking the performance of ADRs and our overall commitment to the ADR market.”

Also effective December 24th 2001, Greece will move from an emerging markets index to a developed markets index. Currently, four companies comprise The Bank of New York Greece ADR IndexSM.

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