It may have been a quiet eight months in terms of new equity issuance, but US investors have had no shortage of new American depositary receipts to buy in recent months, following a rule change that has made it easier for DR banks to set up unsponsored DR programmes.
The data is quite fluid with new programmes being both created and withdrawn, but since early October when the rule change took effect, more than 1,300 unsponsored programmes have been set up by the four DR banks. Since many issuers have been targeted by more than one bank, not all of these have resulted in new choices for investors, but according to data compiled by Bank...