OREANDA-NEWS. April 12, 2011. BM&FBOVESPA announce the start of a new selection process for depositary institutions authorized to issue Unsponsored Level 1 BDRs (Brazilian Depositary Receipts). The winner will issue 10 BDR programs that represent stocks issued by publicly-traded companies with headquarters overseas with stocks traded in the United States. The depositary institutions that wish to take part in the selection process should forward their proposals by May 09, 2011. The rules of the selection process are contained in the call for bids Bid Notice and the winning bid will be disclosed May 16, 2011.

There are currently 20 Unsponsored Level 1 BDR programs available for trading on BM&FBOVESPA. Ten of these have Deutsche Bank as their depositary institution and the other ten have Citibank Distribuidora de Titulos e Valores Mobiliarios S.A.. A third lot is in the registration phase and shall be presented to the market soon by Itau Unibanco, which won the second selection process. The fourth lot, which is also at the registration phase, was won by Bradesco on March 23, 2011.

The Unsponsored Level 1 BDR is a certificate representing stock issued by a foreign-headquartered publicly traded company. It is thus considered a foreign investment from Brazil, in keeping with the definition of CVM Instruction 332/00. The issue and registry of Unsponsored Level 1 BDRs is the responsibility of a depositary institution in Brazil in which none of the companies represented has a stake.

BDRs can be traded by financial institutions, investment funds, portfolio managers and stock consultant authorized by the CVM - the last two in the list are only permitted to invest own capital-, supplementary private pension plans and individuals and companies with financial investments of over BRL 1 million. The other individual investors can only participate in this instrument via funds.