We participated in 16 conferences in 2008 in the United States, Europe and Japan as part of our Investor Relations program. Roadshows were conducted in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Ireland, Italy, Scandinavia and the Benelux countries, as well as on the U.S. west and east coasts, in Canada and Singapore. Altogether, we held more than 500 one-on-one meetings with institutional investors in 2008. We participated in events held by the Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz e.V. and the Schutzgemeinschaft der Kapitalanleger e.V. to strengthen the private investor base in Germany. We redesigned our website and made it more transparent. We webcasted the Annual General Meeting for the first time in 2008, thereby reaching a broader target group.
A more international shareholder structure
The shareholder identification survey conducted in August 2008 identified over 54 million shares and thus more than 80% of the bearer shares in free float. The analysis provides information about the regional distribution of shareholders as well as the classification of investor types. With 45%, U.S. investors continue to hold the majority of Merck shares in free float (2007: 49%), followed by investors residing in the United Kingdom and Germany. The significance of France increased slightly compared to 2007.
Identified investors by region |
Identified investors by type |
As of December 31, 2008, the following shareholders reported their holdings in Merck shares to the company in accordance with the German Securities Trading Act:
- Barclays Bank PLC, London (United Kingdom): 5% – 10%
- Capital Group Companies Inc. Los Angeles (United States): 5% – 10%
- Sun Life Financial Inc. Toronto (Canada): 5% – 10%
- Fidelity International Ltd., Hamilton (Bermuda): 3% – 5%
- Templeton Investment Counsel LLC, Fort Lauderdale (United States): 3% – 5%
Merck continues to aim for a more balanced regional distribution of shareholders with a targeted Investor Relations program, concentrating primarily on long-term focused investors.
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