AstraZeneca quits Nasdaq, shifts U.S. trading to NYSE in direct listing of ordinary shares

When U.S. markets reopen Monday, AstraZeneca’s familiar ticker symbol will light up on a different screen.

After the closing bell Friday, the British-Swedish drugmaker is delisting its American depositary shares from the Nasdaq Stock Market and shifting its U.S. trading venue to the New York Stock Exchange through a direct listing of its ordinary shares. The change marks the end of more than two decades of Nasdaq trading and underscores the growing pull of Wall Street on some of London’s biggest corporate names.

The company says the move is a technical clean-up designed to give investors a simpler way to trade its stock around the world. But it also removes AstraZeneca from the Nasdaq-100 index and comes as U.K. policymakers face mounting questions about the competitiveness of London’s capital markets.

Delisting details and timeline

AstraZeneca disclosed on Jan. 20 that it had given notice of the “voluntary withdrawal from listing on The Nasdaq Stock Market of its American Depositary Shares (ADSs)” and of certain U.S. dollar-denominated debt securities. At the same time, it said it would “complete a direct listing of its Ordinary Shares and the Debt Securities on the New York Stock Exchange… effective after market close on 30 January 2026.”

Trading in the ordinary shares and bonds on the NYSE is expected to begin Monday, Feb. 2, under the unchanged ticker symbol AZN.

A “harmonised listing structure”

The shift is part of what the company calls a “harmonised listing structure.” AstraZeneca’s ordinary shares will now trade on three exchanges — the London Stock Exchange, Nasdaq Stockholm and the NYSE — all under the AZN ticker.

Instead of U.S. investors buying ADRs that represent underlying stock held by a depositary bank, they will own the same ordinary shares as investors in London and Stockholm, but quoted in dollars and settled through U.S. systems.

The overhaul was set in motion on Sept. 29 last year, when AstraZeneca announced plans to replace its Nasdaq ADRs with a direct NYSE listing while keeping its primary listing in London. At a general meeting on Nov. 3, shareholders approved new articles of association needed to proceed. The company said 99.36% of votes cast backed the proposal, representing 79.33% of its issued share capital.

Michel Demaré, AstraZeneca’s chair, said at the time that the result “demonstrates strong shareholder support for AstraZeneca’s harmonised listing structure in London, Stockholm and New York.” He said the approach would support the company’s “long-term strategy for sustainable growth, while remaining headquartered in the UK and listed in London, Stockholm and New York.”

What changes for ADR holders and bond investors

Until Friday’s close, U.S. investors traded AstraZeneca through ADSs on Nasdaq, with each ADS representing two ordinary shares. The company and its wholly owned subsidiary AstraZeneca Finance LLC also had several U.S. dollar bonds listed on Nasdaq.

Under the new structure, those ADSs will be withdrawn and the corresponding depositary program wound down. Holders of the ADRs are expected to receive instructions from the depositary bank outlining how the receipts will be canceled, how underlying ordinary shares can be delivered into their accounts, and what options exist to receive cash proceeds instead. Fees for cancellation or conversion are typically disclosed in separate notices and in regulatory filings.

AstraZeneca’s debt securities will also move from Nasdaq to the NYSE, but the underlying terms — coupons, maturities and guarantees — will not change. For bond investors, the impact is primarily administrative, involving new exchange codes but the same CUSIPs and ISINs.

Exiting the Nasdaq-100 as Walmart joins

The listing move has already reshaped AstraZeneca’s position in a key U.S. equity benchmark. On Jan. 9, Nasdaq announced that Walmart Inc. would join the Nasdaq-100 index and related benchmarks before the market opened on Jan. 20, replacing AstraZeneca. The pharmaceutical group was simultaneously removed from associated indices, including the Nasdaq-100 Equal Weighted Index and several ESG and low-volatility offshoots.

Analysts estimate that inclusion in the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 can drive billions of dollars of demand from index-tracking funds and derivatives users. Walmart’s addition followed its own transfer from the NYSE to Nasdaq, with the retailer highlighting its investments in artificial intelligence and data analytics. AstraZeneca’s departure, in contrast, comes just as it steps up its presence across the street at the NYSE.

The timing highlights the rivalry between the two New York exchanges. While Nasdaq gains one of the world’s largest retailers, the NYSE adds one of Europe’s biggest pharmaceutical companies, with a market value that has made it a mainstay of the FTSE 100 in London and the OMX Stockholm 30.

London competitiveness in the spotlight

AstraZeneca, formed in 1999 from the merger of Sweden’s Astra AB and Britain’s Zeneca Group, has grown into a global biopharmaceutical heavyweight. It is headquartered on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in eastern England and reported about $54 billion in revenue in 2024, with operating income of roughly $10 billion. The United States is its single largest market, accounting for more than 40% of sales.

Company executives have stressed that the listing change does not alter its tax residence or corporate headquarters. AstraZeneca has said it will remain incorporated and tax resident in the United Kingdom and will keep its primary listing on the London Stock Exchange.

Even so, the decision has been watched closely in Britain, where successive governments have touted AstraZeneca as a flagship of the country’s life sciences sector. The company has paused or canceled several planned U.K. investments in recent years, including a vaccine plant in Merseyside and a research expansion in Cambridge, while committing tens of billions of dollars to manufacturing and research facilities in the United States.

Commentators and some investors have argued that the NYSE move adds to concerns about London’s ability to retain and attract large, globally mobile companies. They point to factors such as the U.K.’s 0.5% stamp duty on purchases of most U.K.-listed shares — a tax that does not apply when U.K.-based investors buy AstraZeneca’s stock through its NYSE listing.

Because the ordinary shares listed in New York will settle through U.S. clearing systems, trades there will not be subject to U.K. stamp duty, whereas purchases on the London Stock Exchange generally are. Some market participants say that could encourage U.K. institutions and international investors alike to shift more of their AstraZeneca trading to New York, potentially eroding liquidity in London and reducing U.K. tax revenues.

What investors may notice next

For most large investors, the practical effects of the listing change may be modest in the short term. Many global funds already hold AstraZeneca’s ordinary shares through multiple markets, and the company is widely followed by analysts across Europe and the United States. AstraZeneca remains a constituent of major global healthcare and pharmaceutical indices, regardless of which U.S. exchange it trades on.

Still, the move simplifies the company’s capital structure and may broaden its appeal to certain U.S. institutions that prefer or are required to hold ordinary shares rather than depositary receipts. It also removes ADR-specific layers of custody and fees, potentially narrowing bid-ask spreads for U.S. trading and making it easier to arbitrage price differences between London, Stockholm and New York.

For individual investors, especially in the United States, the change may be most visible in account statements and tax forms. Those who previously owned AstraZeneca through ADRs will see their holdings converted to ordinary shares or cash, depending on instructions and brokerage arrangements. Future dividends will be paid on the ordinary shares, with any applicable foreign withholding tax and currency conversion handled by brokers.

As AstraZeneca’s ordinary shares start trading on the New York Stock Exchange next week, the company’s message is that its “global listing for global investors in a global company” is a matter of market efficiency, not national allegiance. The response from investors and policymakers — in London as well as New York — will help determine whether the move remains a one-off restructuring or becomes a template for other multinationals weighing where, and how, to anchor their shares.