Foreign shareholdings jump by 8 times

The shareholdings of foreigners increased by eight times over the past two years and seven months, after the nation was hit by a currency crisis that forced it to rely on an IMF bailout program in late 1997.

The foreigners¡¯ shareholdings amounted to 8.7 trillion at the end of December 1997, shortly after the financial crisis erupted, but they sharply rose to 69.5 trillion won as of the end of July this year.

This was revealed by a report the Financial Supervisory Commission submitted to Rep. Ahn Dae-Ryun of the United Liberal Democrats, who belongs to the National Policy Committee of the National Assembly, for the parliamentary inspection Monday.

Of the shareholders, U.S. citizens owned the most (63 percent or 43.7 trillion), followed by Britons with 7.1638 trillion (10 percent), Luxembourg citizens with 3.3254 trillion won (5 percent), and Singaporeans with 2,3650 trillion won (3 percent).

The ratio of foreigners¡¯ stakes in 12 of the top 50 listed companies also increased by more than two times. For instance, their stake in Hyundai Electronics rose from 10.3 percent at the end of 1997 to 39.9 percent at the end of July this year, according to the material.