I reluctantly just submitted the ADS conversion election form. I have a sizable holding (top 20) and thought about holding my shares as unlisted shares and retaining full control of my voting rights under Australian law as opposed to transferring my holding to a nominee. The cost to convert at a later date would have been a few thousand dollars. At the end of the day, holding listed shares and saving a few thousand dollars won out because most of the shares are held in a SMSF and I need to be able to sell them into a liquid market at some stage.
The company secretary confirmed that there is an administrative fee $0.005 of per ADS per annum. I have no idea how they go about collecting that fee. Again I state that I am disappointed with Management's attitude towards shareholders. To direct shareholders to go and find an allusive F-3 US securities commission filing to find pertinent information such as the holding fees buried within is unsatisfactory. The company secretary couldn't even confirm this fee when I spoke with her although she did follow-up and email me confirming the details.
Apparently we are all going to receive information on how we go about transferring our ADS to a broker of our choice from Computershare after the conversion. It would have been eminently sensible to have informed shareholders of this information before asking them to accept the ADS conversion facility offer.
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We spoke earlier today about Kazia and the conversion process. You asked me about an annual ADS fee and I said I would come back to you.
I have been advised that yes, there is a service fee that ADS holders are assessed annually – similar to a management fee for an ETF, and quite standard for Nasdaq-listed ADR programs.
The program’s fees are detailed in Kazia’s publicly filed Deposit Agreement:https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1055886/000101915516000599/0001019155-16-000599-index.htm
BNY Mellon also post information on this fee on the Kazia profile page on their website:https://www.adrbnymellon.com?cusip=48669G105
For 2023, holders will be assessed $0.005 per ADS (record date 4 Dec).
I hope that helps.
Regards ………. Anna
