American Depositary Share (ADS)

American Depositary Share (ADS)

A negotiable U.S. depositary share that represents securities of a non-U.S. company being held in custody. A custodian bank in the issuer's home country holds the foreign shares. An ADS is traded in U.S. dollars in the U.S. markets, and dividends are paid in U.S. dollars. American Depositary Shares are traded in lieu of the underlying foreign securities that remain in custody. See also sponsored American Depositary Receipt.

Case Study Trading of American Depositary Shares boomed in the early 2000s, largely because of the increased number of ADSs available to U.S. investors. Foreign companies issued American Depositary Shares as part of their effort to raise funds in the booming U.S. capital markets. Some ADS issues originated from foreign-based corporations with U.S. operations that wanted to offer dollar-denominated ownership shares to their U.S. employees. Foreign companies sometimes issued ADSs to use in acquiring U.S. firms in equity transactions. For example, British Petroleum paid for its acquisition of Chicago-based Amoco Corporation with newly issued American Depositary Shares. These shares offer U.S. investors the opportunity to achieve international diversification without the investors being required to convert dollars for a foreign currency and vice versa. American Depositary Shares also offer liquidity that often surpasses the liquidity of the same firm's ordinary shares. Actively traded ADSs in U.S. markets include Alcatel (France), BP (United Kingdom), Ericsson (Sweden), Nokia (Finland), Royal Dutch Petroleum (Netherlands), and Telefonica (Spain).