Foreign ownership

[1] Foreign ownership of assets is widespread in a modern, globally integrated economy, at both the corporate and individual levels.

An example of the former is when a corporation acquires part, or all, of another company headquartered overseas, or when it purchases property, infrastructure, access rights or other assets in countries abroad.

[3] At the individual level, foreign ownership occurs whenever a domestic asset is acquired by a foreign individual, such as an Indian businessman buying a house in Hong Kong, or a Russian citizen purchasing United States Treasury bonds.

However, this rule is not applied retroactively for insurance companies with foreign ownership higher than 80% at the time of its implementation date of 20 January 2020.

[25] In 2021, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed into law a bill that bans the selling and leasing of agricultural land to foreigners.

[37][38][39] There is also a 40 percent cap imposed on foreign ownership of companies, with exemptions such as firms engaged in the telecommunications, airlines, shipping, railways and irrigation sectors.

However, according to a wealth manager in the Gulf, "It's a step in the right direction, but it will have to be backed up by good performance from companies in order to attract foreign investment.

The legislation, which came into force in 2016, forbids foreign governments, organisations, companies, and individuals from founding or holding more than a 20% stake in Russian media businesses.

According to Vadim Dengin, one of the bill's authors, "the tighter limit on foreign ownership would help protect Russia from western influence.

"[43] However, publishers and editors of independent media companies in Russia argued that the new law would further reduce diversity of opinion.

The new act allows foreigners to acquire land only on a lease basis of up to 99 years, with an annual 15 percent tax on the total rental paid upfront.