Asia Pacific Depositary Receipt Capital Raising Activity to Grow Steadily in 2011 as Global Recovery Continues

Hong Kong, Februaray 23, 2011 – J.P. Morgan expects to see continued growth in depositary receipt (“DR”) capital raising activities across Asia Pacific, according to its ‘Asia Pacific Year in Review 2010’ DR report issued today.

The annual report, which includes analysis of DR trends over the past 12 months along with an outlook on the coming year, highlighted a number of key areas in which activity was expected to rise. These included Hong Kong’s HDR market as a destination for global companies seeking to tap Asia’s growth story; the further development of emerging markets within Asia Pacific in terms of capital raising activities, and an increase in the number of issuers from China and Singapore seeking to list DRs on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

Kenneth Tse, Asia Pacific Head of J.P. Morgan’s depositary receipts group, said: “With the continued recovery of capital markets globally and an improvement in corporate earnings generally, we’re expecting 2011 to deliver another strong year of growth in the Asia Pacific depositary receipts space. China and India will undoubtedly remain key players, but we’re also expecting to see some of the smaller markets like Mongolia and Vietnam begin to assert themselves on the global stage over the next 12 to 24 months.”

Tse also noted that the firm expects to see a continued emergence of local market DRs across Asia Pacific, as inbound global enterprises seek to better capitalize on the region’s growth story.

“We think that local market DRs will continue to evolve quickly, and it is a segment that offers significant growth opportunities going forward. Local market DRs offer companies with significant operations in Asia Pacific better access to a growing base of investors within each market – investors who are seeking local currency denominated investment vehicles and exposure to a wider range of international names. Following our role as Vale’s depositary bank for their landmark HDR listing in December 2010, we expect that Hong Kong’s HDR market will make further strides this year in terms of its further development.”

The positive outlook for the Asia Pacific DR market follows a strong 2010 as compared with 2009, despite a challenging 12 months that saw ongoing headwinds from Europe’s sovereign debt concerns, policy tightening in emerging markets, uncertainty around the withdrawal of monetary stimuli and mixed economic data from a number of key markets.

Some highlights within J.P. Morgan’s ‘Asia Pacific Year in Review 2010’ report include:

• Asia Pacific DR trading value increased 14.5% to USD 882 billion
• 91 issuers from 8 Asia Pacific markets launched new sponsored DR programs
• 72 Asia Pacific issuers raised USD 5.4 billion through DR IPOs in New York, Luxembourg, London and Singapore, versus 26 IPOs that raised USD 4 billion in 2009
• The China & India markets saw 36 and 34 IPOs respectively – a new record
• The U.S. remained the preferred location for DR capital raising

To access the full ‘Asia Pacific Year in Review 2010’ report, please visit J.P. Morgan’s award-winning website, www.adr.com.

J.P. Morgan is committed to working closely with its clients to design and implement customized depositary receipt programs to achieve their strategic goals and facilitate DR liquidity. J.P. Morgan, which launched the world’s first DR program in 1927 for Selfridges and the first DR program in Asia in 1961 for Sony, continues to serve as depositary receipt bank for leading companies throughout the region. J.P. Morgan provides a full range of ADR and Global Depositary Receipt (“GDR”) services to issuers seeking to have their equity traded on exchanges beyond their home markets. For more information on depositary receipts and international equities, please visit www.adr.com.

About J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services
J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services (WSS) is a premier securities servicing provider that helps institutional investors, alternative asset managers, broker dealers and equity issuers optimize efficiency, mitigate risk and enhance revenue. A division of JPMorgan Chase Bank, WSS leverages the firm’s global scale, leading technology and deep industry expertise to service investments around the world. It has $16.1 trillion in assets under custody and $7.3 trillion in funds under administration. For more information, go to www.jpmorgan.com/wss.  

About JPMorgan Chase & Co.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2.1 trillion and operations in more than 60 countries. The firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers, small business and commercial banking, financial transaction processing, asset management and private equity. A component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, JPMorgan Chase & Co. serves millions of consumers in the United States and many of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients under its J.P. Morgan and Chase brands. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at www.jpmorganchase.com.