BNY Mellon has been appointed by Covestro as the depositary bank for its sponsored American depositary receipt (ADR) programme, effective 12 January.

The bank will replace an unsponsored facility run by Citi, which announced the programme in April 2016, for the Germany-headquartered polymer company.

The ADRs will continue to trade on the US over-the-counter market under the symbol COVTY.

“The US is a crucial strategic market for Covestro, both operationally as well as in terms of our investor base,” said Frank H. Lutz, CFO of Covestro.  

“With the conversion to a sponsored Level I ADR programme, we aim to facilitate access to the stock for global investors and further broaden our shareholder base in the long term.”

Covestro is the latest global firm to convert from an unsponsored to a sponsored depositary receipt programme. Over the last three years, 21 companies have replaced their unsponsored depositaries with BNY Mellon.

This appointment follows the news that BNY Mellon has also been selected by Brazilian petrochemicals firm Braskem, as the successor for its ADR programme, reported by Global Investor last week. Effective 4 January, BNY replaces JPMorgan, which had been running the programme for just under three and a half years. 

BNY Mellon also became the successor depositary bank for Credit Suisse ADR programme in November.