A global depositary receipt (GDR) is a negotiable certificate representing ownership of shares. It is held by a depositary bank and it represents a specific number of shares of a stock traded on an exchange of another country. GDRs are quoted and traded and dividends paid in US dollars. GDRs facilitate the purchase, holding and sale of non-US securities by foreign investors.
FirstBank commenced a global depositary programme in April 2007. The programme intends to provide depth and enable foreign institutional investors to hold and trade allotted FirstBank shares easily without having to buy the ordinary shares.
At the inception of the GDR programme, about 7.7 million units were created, with each unit represented by 50 units of FirstBank ordinary shares. The GDR is a regulation S (Reg S) registered and unlisted security, and hence can only be traded over the counter (OTC) through the depositary bank. As at the year end, the closing price of the FirstBank GDR at the OTC market was $4.52.
In the year under review, 42,021 GDR units were issued due to the one for eight bonus declared in May 2010 while 331,330 units were cancelled resulting in a net cancellation of 289,309 GDR units to ordinary shares. There was no transfer activity between the 144A and Reg S during the year. The number of outstanding GDRs currently stands at 59,529 units.