The drugmaker AstraZeneca is preparing to directly list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, but said it will continue to be listed in London amid speculation over its future.
The FTSE 100 company said its direct listing in New York will replace trading in its “American depositary receipts” (ADRs) – which give US investors exposure to a non-US company – on the Nasdaq.
The company’s chair, Michel Demaré, said the proposed structure would allow it to “reach a broader mix of global investors and will make it even more attractive for all our shareholders to have the opportunity to participate in AstraZeneca’s exciting future”.
AstraZeneca, which is the second-biggest company in the FTSE 100 with a market capitalisation of £170.5bn, said it would retain its headquarters in Cambridge, England, as well as its listing on the London Stock Exchange.
But it comes as the group’s commitment to the UK falls under increasing scrutiny, after it paused a planned £2oom expansion of its research site in Cambridge. The project had been expected to create 1,000 jobs. It is one of several large projects scrapped or paused, amid an ongoing row with government over drug pricing.
In January, AstraZeneca also scrapped plans to invest £450m in its vaccine manufacturing facility in Speke, Merseyside, citing a cut in government support, after months of negotiations.
There have also been reports that Sir Pascal Soriot, the long-serving chief executive, would like to move its stock market listing to the US.
The US is the biggest pharmaceutical market in the world, where AstraZeneca made $23.2bn (£17.25bn) in revenue in its 2024 financial year, about 43% of its total.
Soriot has publicly expressed his frustration over the UK’s rejection of AstraZeneca’s breast cancer drug Enhertu, and has previously said the UK and Europe are falling behind China and the US in biotech.
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A shift in AstraZeneca’s listing would be a big loss for the London Stock Exchange, which has already suffered a string of departures by companies seeking higher valuations. In recent years, the equipment rental company Ashtead, Paddy Power bookmaker owner Flutter Entertainment, building materials supplier CRH and packaging company Smurfit Westrock have all left the LSE.
Such a move by AstraZeneca would probably spur an attempt to intervene by the UK government, which has made life sciences one of its important growth sectors. However, it would not have any formal power to stop AstraZeneca from moving its listing.
Soriot has been the highest-paid chief executive on the FTSE 100 for two years running, receiving £16.85m for 2023, up from £15.3m in 2022.