The institutional free float in the prime market segment of the Vienna Stock Exchange continues to be strongly international. These are the findings of a study on the ownership structure of the institutional free float, which S&P Global Market Intelligence carries out every two years on behalf of the Vienna Stock Exchange. Institutional free float is the proportion of shares available for public trading that are held by professional investors, including investment companies, pension funds and insurance companies. At the end of 2024, 92.3% of the free float held by institutional investors was attributable to international asset managers. The study highlights the attractiveness of Austrian equities for global portfolios and the international importance of Vienna as a trading venue. Net investments by institutional investors in the ATX Prime rose slightly compared to 2022 (EUR 24.1 billion) to EUR 25.2 billion.

Major US investors, which account for 34% (2022: 32.7%) of the institutional free float, continue to expand their leading position. The UK follows with 21.1% (2022: 19.8%), while France is in third place despite a slight decline to 7.8% (2022: 8.4%). Austrian institutional investors are close behind in fourth place with 7.7% (2022: 9.1%). Norway is new in the top five of the country ranking with an unchanged share of 5%, while Germany's share fell to 4.5% (2022: 6%) and thus slipped to sixth place.

"Especially in a phase of the European blue-chip renaissance, it is clear that the Austrian capital market is well positioned to benefit from this trend. Global investors have long recognised the quality of Austria's top companies. Through our international conference programme, we specifically promote the global visibility of listed companies," says Christoph Boschan, CEO of Wiener Börse AG.

Vanguard, BlackRock and Co. remain the top investors

The top positions of institutional investors with the largest investment volume in the ATX Prime remained almost unchanged compared to 2022. The Vanguard Group continues to lead the list ahead of BlackRock Fund Advisors, Erste Asset Management GmbH and Norges Bank Investment Management. In fifth place, the US asset manager Dimensional Fund Advisors replaced Amundi Asset Management, which is based in France.

Investment strategies: "Growth" and "Value" in the foreground

The analysis confirms the growing importance of passive investment strategies. Passive index investing now accounts for 25.1% (2022: 21.6%). However, the "growth" (33.2%; 2022: 33%) and "value" (28.5%; 2022: 26.6%) strategies continue to take centre stage. The study also shows that the portfolios predominantly have a low to medium turnover rate, which emphasises the importance of Austrian equities for long-term investment strategies.

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