Yahoo Finance One in four large UK businesses are foreign owned - but which countries own most?
As many as 24,145 UK businesses are owned by companies located abroad according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
This is the equivalent of just 1.1pc of the total number of businesses registered in the UK.
However, foreign-owned companies are more likely to be larger businesses. Among large businesses - defined as those that employ more than 250 people - the rate of foreign ownership rises to 27pc.
The sectors with most foreign ownership of UK businesses
The ONS found that foreign-owned businesses contributed £333.7bn in approximate gross value added, turning over £1.26 trillion. Gross value added is a productivity measure that tallies up the net value of goods and services produced.
The extent of foreign ownership varies significantly across sectors, with it being most widespread among companies engaged in mining and quarrying.
As many as 11.2pc of these companies were foreign owned, however, due to the size distributions of these companies, this 11.2pc accounted for 74pc of the sector's total turnover.
Companies in the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning sector were the next most likely to be foreign owned, followed by those in the manufacturing sector.
US companies own more UK based businesses than any other country
US-based companies owned more UK businesses than those from any other country, with 5,378 in 2015 - the latest year for which figures are available.
Collectively, these companies turned over £330bn in 2015 and contributed an approximate £100bn in gross value added.
Second on this list was Germany with 1,824 businesses, followed by France on 1,497 and the Netherlands on 1,463.
Hong Kong businesses are investing fastest in UK companies
Chinese firms owned a comparatively small number of UK businesses at 106, however this number grew by 20.5pc between 2014 and 2015. This makes China one of the fastest expanding countries when it comes to foreign ownership of UK businesses, albeit from a low base.
However, Hong Kong companies are expanding the number of businesses they own in the UK at the fastest rate - up by 25.6pc over the same period.
