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- BUSINESS, Page 51Business NotesINVESTMENTSThis Land Is Their Land
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- Like bargain-hungry shoppers rattling the racks at a
- department-store sale, foreigners are stocking up on American
- corporations and real estate. Last week the Commerce Department
- reported that overseas investors spent $65 billion on U.S.
- assets last year, up from $40.3 billion in 1987. The Government
- noted a pronounced jump in large transactions: the number of
- foreign investments worth more than $1 billion doubled from six
- to twelve.
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- As they have been throughout most of postwar U.S. history,
- the British were the largest investors last year, plunking down
- $21.5 billion. In second place were the Japanese ($14.2
- billion), ahead of the Canadians ($10.4 billion). U.S. firms
- have been popular targets partly because of the steady growth
- of the American economy during the past six years. Another
- reason for their attractiveness is the large and relatively
- homogeneous U.S. consumer market. American investors still
- control more assets overseas ($330 billion) than foreign owners
- do in the U.S. ($304 billion), but that advantage has been
- narrowing in recent years.
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