No Move Yet On Bpl Cellular Adr Listing

BPL Cellular Holdings' (BPCHL) $100-million American Depository Receipts (ADRs) are yet to be traded in the United States.

BPCHL announced the placement of its ADR issue last week, but the company still does not appear to have a specific timetable to apply for a NASDAQ stockmarket listing. "The BPL Cellular file is currently not active, and there is no application pending with us," a NASDAQ spokesman told Business Standard.

BPCHL is also yet to apply for Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registration, a mandatory step before listing the ADRs on a US Stock Exchange. SEC regulations permit foreign companies to seek exemption from disclosures if they restrict trading to electronic exchanges or pink sheets. However, SEC officials confirmed that BPCHL has not yet sought an exemption.BPCHL's issue was entirely privately placed, packaged in the form of ADRs, and deposited with the Bank of New York last November.

However, no trading was reported on any level. Company officials pulled the issue after receiving a cool response from the US investors. The issue still remained largely untraded even after slashing the asking price to $7.50 each, far lower than the company's initial expectation of $10 each.

The recent placement was done without attracting attention in the American market. US-based firms were not involved in the process, and Indian players in the market had little information about the ADR issue. "New York was not really involved," one representative of a major brokerage firm said.