BNY Mellon says Vodafone has reached one billion depositary receipts (DR) outstanding, making it the largest DR program in Western Europe. BNY Mellon serves as the company's depositary bank.
After Vodafone, the Western European companies with the largest number of DRs outstanding are BP, Nokia, Royal Dutch Shell and GlaxoSmithKline.
Andy Halford, CFO at Vodafone, says the firm has made DRs a core part of its investor relations strategy in order to grow ownership of Vodafone among domestic and international funds in the U.S.
"Over 20% of Vodafone shares are now held through depositary receipts, reflecting the appetite in the U.S. for stocks with attractive dividend yields and strong exposure to the U.S. market," Halford says. "BNY Mellon, our depositary bank, has been an outstanding partner, providing consistently great service to us and our U.S. based investors."
Vodafone's DRs are listed and traded in U.S. dollar-denominated form on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol VOD.