3 May, 2002
Tranz Rail Holdings Limited today announced that it intends to terminate its American Depositary Receipt (ADR) programme
in approximately 90 days, and at the same time de-list from NASDAQ.
The decision to de-list follows considerable recent changes to Tranz Rail's shareholding with almost 70% held in New
Zealand, with a further 16% held by Australian institutions.
With the primary market for Tranz Rail shares now on the New Zealand Stock Exchange, there has been a resultant shift
from trading on the US NASDAQ market.
NASDAQ held ADRs reached a high of 12 million (36 million ordinary share equivalents or 29% of total shares outstanding
at the time) on issue at their peak in June 1997, but have dropped to around 2.1 million ADRs (6.3 million ordinary
shares equivalent or 5% of total shares outstanding) on issue in March 2002.
As a result, liquidity of the Tranz Rail ADRs market has also fallen substantially from an average of around 1.2 million
ADRs trading per month in 1997, to less than 45,000 per month in the most recent twelve month period.
Tranz Rail Chief Financial Officer Wayne Collins said that the size of the United States holdings no longer justifies
the expense of maintaining a public market in the US.
"Tranz Rail appreciates the support of its ADR holders and expects they will understand the business rationale for the
steps being taken," he said.
"Tranz Rail is again largely a New Zealand company and its current shareholding reflects this."
In connection with termination of the ADR program, Tranz Rail will be terminating its listing on NASDAQ, effective
shortly before the effective date of the ADR termination. Until termination of the NASDAQ listing, holders of ADRs may
sell their ADRs through their brokers.
ADR holders who wish to keep their Tranz Rail positions may convert their ADRs to ordinary shares by following the
procedures set out in the Bank of New York notice of termination. The principal market for the ordinary shares is the
NZSE, and any dividends on the ordinary shares (currently suspended) will be payable in NZ dollars.
Ends