UK Ownership and Control: A Transformational Analysis

Abstract

This study presents a transformational analysis of corporate ownership and control in the UK perspective. Using a sample of 643, UK listed non-financial companies and data from the Office for National Statistics, this study reveals that, UK equity ownership has witnessed a rapid decline by major domestic institutional investors and increase in foreign ownership since 2004. It is further reported that ownership in the UK is more complex than considered by most previous ownership studies. The study reveals that, 42% of UK companies have multiple large shareholders and about 40% of the sample firms separate cash flow-rights from control-rights, confirming the presence of controlling block holders. This is contrary to the traditional understanding that UK ownership structure is dispersed. Therefore, this study contributes significantly to the literature by examining the issue of UK corporate ownership and control structures, which did not receive appropriate attention in the past in the UK context.

Key words: Ownership structure, Institutional ownership, cash flow rights, control rights