Depositary Receipts

Acting as outside counsel to the leading ADR depositary bank for more than twenty years, our ADR area has played a leading role in the development and use of Depositary Receipts in international corporate finance. Acting primarily as counsel for the ADR Depositary, it has handled many hundreds of sponsored and unsponsored ADR transactions involving non-U.S. issuers from over sixty countries. Many of these transactions have involved U.S. and non-U.S. exchange listings, public and private domestic and world-wide offerings of ADRs and GDRs representing common or preferred equity or debt securities, and non-U.S. and cross border tender and exchange offers, mergers and acquisitions involving ADRs. In addition, the ADR area has from time to time been involved in the creation of such new and innovative products as "basket" DRs, including "HOLDRs" and, most recently, gold-based trust issued Receipts.