CapitaLand Investment Limited's (SGX:9CI) market cap dropped S$608m last week; Private companies bore the brunt

Key Insights

• CapitaLand Investment's significant private companies ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• The largest shareholder of the company is Bartley Investments Pte. Ltd. with a 53% stake
• Institutional ownership in CapitaLand Investment is 14%

If you want to know who really controls CapitaLand Investment Limited (SGX:9CI), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that private companies own the lion's share in the company with 53% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As a result, private companies as a group endured the highest losses last week after market cap fell by S$608m.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of CapitaLand Investment, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for CapitaLand Investment

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About CapitaLand Investment?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

CapitaLand Investment already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at CapitaLand Investment's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in CapitaLand Investment. Bartley Investments Pte. Ltd. is currently the largest shareholder, with 53% of shares outstanding. With such a huge stake in the ownership, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 2.2% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 2.0% by the third-largest shareholder.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of CapitaLand Investment

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

Our information suggests that CapitaLand Investment Limited insiders own under 1% of the company. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. It is a very large company, so it would be surprising to see insiders own a large proportion of the company. Though their holding amounts to less than 1%, we can see that board members collectively own S$24m worth of shares (at current prices). It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 32% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 53%, of the shares on issue. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

Next Steps:

I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 4 warning signs with CapitaLand Investment (at least 2 which are significant) , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.