Foreign shareholders have increased their hold on Dutch listed companies considerably over the past three years, according to research by the Volkskrant published this weekend.

The paper bases its claims on 2,436 major shareholding transactions reported to the financial services sector regulator AFM since November 2006.
Since then, large foreign players have spent €12bn buying up Dutch shares, while Dutch shareholders sold off €1bn-worth of investments.
The paper says the upwards march by foreign investors is noteworthy because the government had pledged to try to reduce the role of aggressive foreign investors, following the takeover battles surrounding ABN Amro and Stork.
US funds
Dutch stock exchange-listed companies have a combined value of €290bn, the paper says. The identity of the owners of some €70bn-worth of these shares can be traced.
Of this, €32bn is owned by Dutch investors, €23bn by US investors and €8bn by British investors.
US asset management group Capital is the biggest investor, with BlackRock, Fidelity and AllianceBernstein all featuring in the top 10, the paper says.
The paper’s calculations show telecoms firm KPN has the most foreign investors, with Capital owning 15% of its shares.