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28% of Japan Inc Owned by Foreigners in 2006

June 27, 2007
By Ken Worsley


Last Friday it was announced that foreign shareholders held 28% of shares in Japanese companies in 2006, which was a record high. Further, foreigners are now the largest single group of shareholders in Japan for the first time.

It wasn’t missed or forgotten, just something I keep saying, “Next post will be that” about. So why blog it now?

Someone emailed the story to me and asked if I had seen it, and wondered why foreigners would be buying so many shares in Japanese companies when they tend to pay such low dividends and generally be unreceptive to shareholder needs.

I think that’s a question worth considering, and while companies that pay higher dividends tended to be the target of foreign buyers, I still think that many people see quite a few Japanese equities as undervalued. Of course, there are plenty more reasons out there, so the real reason I’m posting this is to get the question out there for discussion: Why are a growing number of non-Japanese snapping up Japanese issues?

Filed Under Equity Markets, Foreigners 

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Comments

2 Responses to “28% of Japan Inc Owned by Foreigners in 2006”

  1. WG on June 28th, 2007 10:15 pm

    It will be 32% next year, 38% the year after that…ten more years to 60%.

  2. Ken Worsley on June 28th, 2007 11:57 pm

    What in the world is that based on? If we could wrap that into a derivative and sell it, are you buying?

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