Trading in AstraZeneca‘s (NASDAQ: AZN) American Depositary Shares (ADSes) was lively on Tuesday, on news that its leadership intends to directly list its sock on a U.S. exchange. Investors clearly liked that idea, as they bid those ADSes up by more than 2% that trading session. With that rise, it did better than the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC), which closed the day marginally (0.1%) lower.
Bye-bye Britain?
That morning, U.K. newspaper The Times published an article stating that AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot aims to move the company’s stock market listing onto our shores (ADSes are certificates conferring ownership of a stock, not the stock itself).
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Citing unidentified multiple sources, the newspaper wrote that Soriot might also be mulling a move of AstraZeneca’s headquarters from the U.K. to the U.S.
Currently, the global healthcare company is a component of the FTSE 100, considered by many to be the most important U.K. stock index.
According to The Times‘ reporting, the chief executive is “known to be deeply frustrated with the U.K.’s operating environment.” The newspaper added that he has publicly expressed concern about what he perceives to be a decline in European competitiveness against the U.S. and China. The pair happens to be the company’s two largest markets.
Neither Soriot nor AstraZeneca has yet officially commented on the article.
Land of opportunity
Since AstraZeneca has quite a presence in the U.S. healthcare market and does much of its business in the country, it makes abundant sense to shift the main stock market listing and even the headquarters here. It’s unclear (at least for now) how much this might affect the company’s fundamentals and operations, but as a concept, it’s a good idea.
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Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends AstraZeneca Plc. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
