Current Account has commented in recent weeks about the presence of Fidelity in the Irish market.

The Boston-based investment house - reputedly the biggest in the world in terms of funds under management - has been an active player, but has tended to be choosy about where it puts its money. It has never adopted a broad brush approach to investing in the Irish market.

Companies like to have Fidelity as a sizeable shareholder. It enhances credibility among US investors. Just as the Irish market is characterised by a sheep-like approach among domestic fund managers, so it is in the US, where many smaller investment houses will follow in Fidelity's footsteps when it comes to making asset allocation decisions.

Last week we commented on how Fidelity was far and away the biggest institutional shareholder in food blue-chip IAWS - something that must be a bit of an embarrassment to our eurozone-fixated domestic fund management community. Now Fidelity has emerged as a big buyer of Irish Life and Permanent (IL&P), with its stake at more than 8 per cent.

As of last March, Fidelity did not even feature in the disclosable shareholdings in the IL&P annual report. By mid-September it emerged with a 5 per cent stake and had taken that to 8 per cent by this week.

That means Fidelity has bought at least 5 per cent of IL&P's shares in the past six months - almost 15 million shares, which probably cost in the order of €150 million if one assumes an average price of €10. This represents a serious investment decision - even for moneybags investors like Fidelity.

It is understood that IL&P has been aware Fidelity has been an active buyer of its shares, but it was still taken aback by the speed of the move from 5 per cent to 8 per cent. It is unlikely that Fidelity will go much further, but a foreign shareholder of that scale and reputation will do IL&P's reputation no harm among overseas investors.

Getting the likes of Fidelity on to a share register demands a lot of shoe leather and knocking on doors by investors' relations people. Current Account can remember CRH's finance director Harry Sheridan once saying that 10 per cent of his time was spent on investor relations and meeting institutional investors.

Given the overseas representation on CRH's share register that effort has paid off. And in IL&P's case, persistent knocking on Fidelity's door has also paid off. Irish companies have no option but to look to overseas investors as Irish fund managers - especially pension funds - reduce their Irish equity holdings to well under 20 per cent and possibly as little as 10 per cent of assets.

Some companies have been successful in enticing overseas investors; others don't seem to have bothered. These laggards need to get on the road - or they risk being left at home for good.