Shoprite: Depositary receipts seek US investors

Shoprite had appointed Bank of New York Mellon for an American depositary receipt programme aimed at adding US investors, the biggest overseas buyers of its shares, the retailer said yesterday. The company was seeking to make its stock “accessible to more international investors, particularly US investors”. Shoprite said more than half of its shares were owned by foreigners, with US shareholders representing about 62 percent of that. Each depositary receipt represents one ordinary share. Shoprite opened its 1 000th supermarket in Africa on November 28, one of the 129 new shops it plans for the continent in the financial year to June next year, according to its website. After earlier rising as much as 1.6 percent, the stock closed 0.84 percent lower at R165.75 on the JSE yesterday. – Bloomberg