- Public sector investment in the Spanish stock market is at a 26-year high of 3.3%
- The Spanish stock market is 49% controlled by international investors, a drop of one percentage point from last year's all-time high
- In contrast, the share of Spanish households increases by two tenths of a percentage point compared to the 2023 data, to 16.4%
- The share of non-financial companies in the ownership of Spanish shares rises to 21.9%, a twelve-year high, and that of banks rebounds by four tenths of a percentage point.
Non-financial companies, banks and the public sector increased their share ownership in the Spanish stock market at the end of 2023, with international investors continuing to control nearly half of its capitalization. This is reflected in the Report on the Ownership of Listed Spanish Shares published today by BME's Research Department.
As the report points out, public sector participation in the stock market reached its highest level (16.6%) in 1992, when the privatisation process of a large number of public companies began, which reduced it to residual levels (0.6%). However, this dynamic has been reversing in the last decade following public aid to some banks and the maintenance and revaluation of significant stakes in listed companies, to reach the current figures, which place its weight at 3.3%, valued at around 23,000 million euros. The data in the report refer to the end of 2023, so they do not yet include the successive acquisitions of Telefónica shares up to at least 10% of the capital made as early as 2024.
Another relevant fact is the large presence of non-resident investors in the Spanish stock market, with 49% of capitalization, a fall of 1.3 percentage points compared to last year. Once again this year, the comparative figure for international investor participation in unlisted and listed companies stands out. In the former, foreign investors hold an average of 25% compared to 48.7% in listed companies, which shows that being listed on the stock market is attractive to international investors.
In this category, sovereign wealth funds such as the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, which at the end of 2023 had a stake of close to 12.5 billion euros in the Spanish stock market, the QIA sovereign wealth fund (7.1 billion), the Japanese GPIF (close to 3.2 billion) and the Singapore sovereign wealth fund, GIC (1.6 billion), are gaining increasing weight. As for the large international fund managers, BlackRock, which has 30.6 billion euros in Spanish listed companies, Vanguard Group with more than 21.8 billion, and Fidelity with almost 9.5 billion stand out, among others.
The report stresses that the high participation of international investors in the Spanish stock market further emphasizes the importance of promoting stock market listings so that more companies can benefit from the advantages of financial markets, such as global investment flows. This is highlighted in the White Paper on fostering the competitiveness of Spanish capital markets, published by BME in January and which has been received with broad consensus in the sector.
In the case of households, the report reveals that their shareholding in the Spanish stock market increased by two tenths in 2023 to 16.4%. Some 12.5% of Spanish households own shares in listed companies, which amounts to 2.4 million families, according to figures from the latest Household Financial Survey, compiled by the Bank of Spain. Although the accumulated financial assets in the hands of Spanish households reached 2.83 trillion euros, 5.8% more than in 2022 and a growth of 40% compared to a decade ago, it continues to maintain a high concentration in bank deposits.
Finally, non-financial companies control 21.9% of the Spanish stock market, nine tenths more than a year ago and a nine-year high; banks and savings banks reach a 3.5% share after a rebound of 4 tenths and Collective Investment Institutions, insurance and other non-banking financial institutions control 5.9% of total listed shares, the same percentage as a year ago.
You can find the report at the following link.
