It was commonly believed that the "Explotadora" was not only British-managed but also British-owned. This is certainly not borne out by the 1938 list of shareholders, which identifies the name and nationality of all individual shareholders, as well as the number of shares owned. Key statistics are as follows:

Total shareholders	1,875
(of which) Chilean	1,613	86%
(of which) British	92	5%
Total shares	1,800,000
(of which) Chilean-owned	1,446,334	80%
(of which) British-owned	/*/   255,061	14%

/*/  Large part of these shares (184,287) were held by two locally-registered banks, Banco Anglo-Sud Americano Limitado and Banco de Londres y América del Sud Ltdo. They have been classified here as "British" shareholders because of their strong foreign roots. Excluding these two companies, the British ownership is reduced to a mere 4% (70,774 shares).