Information given in the book "The Suez Affair" tells us that the company was largely owned by British and French shareholders.
Britain and France saw the Nasser nationalization as a violation of international law and feared that this could create a power of vacuum, which could be filled by the Soviets, who were their communist enemy in the Cold War. Along with this, the nationalization of the canal directly threatened British and French influences in the area, which was rich on oilsupplies and secured Britain's way to India. In a letter to the US President in September 1958, the British Prime Minister Eden