FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - The shares of the 40 companies from Germany's premier Borsenliga are predominantly held in foreign custody accounts - with an upward trend. Investors from abroad hold the majority in 24 Dax corporations, as analyzed by the consulting firm EY. According to the study, the share of investors from outside Germany increased further by 0.6 percentage points from 2021 to 2022 to 52.1 percent. At the same time, the share of domestic shareholders in the German share index fell by 0.2 percentage points to 31.3 percent. The remaining shares are not clearly attributable, according to the data.

"Foreign markets are becoming increasingly important for Germany's top corporations, and this is also reflected in the composition of their investors," classified Henrik Ahlers, chairman of EY's management board. "It is only logical if this internationalization of operations is also accompanied by an internationalization of the shareholder structure." On average, one in five shares in a Dax company is held by shareholders from North America (21.8 percent), according to the evaluation.

The dominance of foreign investors in the Dax also means that investors outside Germany are the main beneficiaries of the record dividends paid out by Dax companies for fiscal 2022. In total, the 40 companies will pay out a good 51.6 billion euros to their shareholders, seven percent more than a year earlier. A good half of the total - a good 26.3 billion euros - will be collected by investors outside Germany. Around 19.7 billion euros went to Dax investors from Germany, with the remainder going to shareholders who cannot be clearly allocated regionally.

According to the study, the highest proportion of foreign shareholders is at Vonovia: 84 percent of the shares in the real estate group are in the hands of foreign investors. Deutsche Borse, chemicals trader Brenntag and engine manufacturer MTU Aero Engines all have at least 80 percent foreign ownership.

In contrast, according to the analysis, the majority of shares in the following eight Dax companies are "definitely in the hands of domestic investors": Porsche AG, Siemens Healthineers, Beiersdorf, Hannover Rück, Deutsche Telekom, BASF, BMW and Sartorius. According to EY, the sports car manufacturer Porsche has the highest proportion of German investors, at 88 percent: The vast majority of Porsche AG shares are owned by Volkswagen AG and Porsche Automobil Holding SE./ben/DP/mis