Capital raised by overseas firms issuing American depository receipts...

Capital raised by overseas firms issuing American depository receipts reached record levels this year, according to a new report by Salomon Smith Barney. Totaling more than $21.2 billion as of Dec. 9, this was an increase of 8.7% over the previous record of $19.5 billion set in 1996. And this year’s total was an increase of 121% over last year’s total of $9.6 billion. For companies in emerging markets, capital raised by ADRs surged to $12.7 billion this year, or 60% of the total, vs. $4 billion or 42% of the total in 1998, according to the report. Most of the growth in emerging markets came from Asian companies. The trend in Europe was positive but not as strong in Asia, while Latin America lagged.