Two New Financial ADRs: Avia and Banco Santander Brazil

Aviva Plc (AV) and Banco Santander Brazil SA (BSBR) are two new ADRs that started trading on the New York Stock Exchange last month.

1. Aviva Plc (AV):

UK-based Aviva is engaged in the long-term savings, fund management and general insurance business. In the first half of this year, Aviva made £747M in profits. Lower earnings forced the company to cut its interim dividend by 31%. Last Friday, AV closed at $12.78.

Aviva's fund management unit manages £316 billion in assets. From the corporate web site:

"Aviva is the world’s fifth-largest insurance group and the largest insurance services provider in the UK. We have premium income and investment sales of £51.4 billion and £352 billion of funds under management. We have 54,000 employees serving over 50 million customers in 28 countries around the world."

UK and Europe account for nearly 80% of total sales.

2. Banco Santander Brazil SA (BSBR):

The Brazilian unit of Banco Santander of Spain (STD) listed its shares on the Brazil and New York exchanges simultaneously on Oct. 7th. In New York the company raised $8B. In Brazil, its IPO was the largest ever public offering in the country's history.

"At the end of June 2009, Santander Brasil Group, which includes the Santander and Real banks, had R$ 288.8 billion in total assets, R$ 177.9 billion in total deposits, more than 21 million clients and a network of 3,612 points of sale, including branches and service centers."

BSBR's operations are concentrated in South and Southeast of Brazil which account for about 73% of the country's GDP. The stock closed at $11.86 on Oct. 20th.

The other two Brazilian bank ADRs that trade on the NYSE are Banco Bradesco (BBD) and Itau Unibanco Banco Holding SA (ITUB).