Allianz SE has provided written notice to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) of its intention to voluntarily delist its American Depositary Shares (ADS) and its 8.375% Undated Subordinated Callable Bonds (Bonds) from the NYSE. Delistings of Allianz’s ordinary shares from the stock exchanges in London, Milan, Paris and the Swiss Exchange shall follow in due course.
With this move, Allianz will focus the trading of its share in particular on the Frankfurt Xetra trading platform as the market with the highest liquidity. In recent years, trading of Allianz shares on non-German stock exchanges accounted on average for significantly less than 5 percent of the total trading of Allianz shares, despite the fact that approximately 70 percent of Allianz shares are held by investors outside of Germany. The delistings will have no impact on the strategic orientation of Allianz nor on its presence in the individual geographic markets.
“Allianz adjusts to international trading practices and by doing so reduces the complexity of its presence in the capital markets. The vast majority of international investors already uses our listing in Frankfurt to buy and sell Allianz shares,” says Paul Achleitner, Member of the Board of Management of Allianz SE.
Technical details:
The last trading day of the ADS (ticker symbol “AZ”) and the Bonds (ticker symbol “AZM”) on the NYSE is currently expected to be on or about October 23, 2009. As soon as practicable, following the delisting of the ADS and the Bonds, Allianz intends to file a Form 15F with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to deregister and terminate its reporting obligations under Section 13(a) and 15(d) of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Allianz has not arranged for the listing of its ADS, ordinary shares or the Bonds on another U.S. securities exchange or for the quotation of its ordinary shares or the Bonds in a quotation medium in the United States. However, Allianz intends to maintain its American Depositary Receipt program on a so-called “Level I” basis in order to enable investors to trade ADS in the U.S. over-the-counter (OTC) market. Allianz currently expects that its ADS will be quoted on OTCQX, the premium sector of the U.S. OTC market. Allianz furthermore expects Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. to continue to make a market in the Bonds.
