hankyoreh

Foreigners have substantially invested in more than three out of every 10 listed companies in South Korea, the country's financial regulator said Sunday.

Of the total 1,767 listed companies as of the end of 2007, 34.7

percent were found to have foreign ownership of 5 percent or more, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

The number of companies with more than 5 percent foreign ownership, which stood at 440 as of the end of 2005, has been consistently increasing, rising to 555 in 2006.

Foreigners with holdings in some 130 companies, or 7.6 percent of the total listed firms, were found to have invested to "participate in the management process," the FSS said.

In comparison, domestic institutional investors have invested in only 3 percent, or 54 companies, for the same purpose.

Foreign investors, meanwhile, have been selling off their equities in Korean companies in recent years, with the net selling reaching some 45 trillion won (US$4.48 billion) since 2005, according to the FSS.

SEOUL, March 23 (Yonhap)