Following through on a plan announced earlier in the month, Rinker Group Ltd. listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange October 28. Chief Executive Officer David Clarke marked the listing with a ceremonial ringing of the opening bell on the exchange floor. The listing is in the form of American depository receipts, issued under the symbol RIN through JPMorgan Chase Bank. Opening at about US$45.00, each ADR represents 10 Rinker shares as traded on the Australian Stock Exchange.

“The primary purpose of this listing is to enable U.S. investors to buy the stock, as they can for our [domestic] industry peers,” notes Clarke. “We see potential benefits in having the flexibility to use [the stock] as acquisition currency, and being able to meet demand from our U.S. employees who would like to buy the stock.”

The Australian-born Clarke is based in West Palm Beach, Fla., and reports to a board whose members are split between North America and the Sydney home base. He has overseen the 15-year development of the Rinker Materials Corp. franchise as a top-five player in North American ready mixed, pipe and drainage products, prestressed and aggregates. That same period has given rise to Rinker Group peer companies who have dominating North American market positions and ADR facilities: Cemex, Hanson, and Lafarge Group (NYSE) and CRH/Oldcastle (Nasdaq).