MILAN, Jan 6 (Reuters) - More than half the value of Italy’s stock market is now in foreign hands, in a sign the euro zone’s third biggest economy is succeeding in attracting overseas investments even if that means losing control of some of its most treasured assets.

A study by industry body Unimpresa showed the value of foreign investments in listed companies rose to 279 billion euros ($300 billion) in June 2015, or 51.1 percent of the total, up from 44.3 percent a year earlier. It was the first time that foreign ownership surpassed the 50-percent mark, it said.

Foreigners also owned more than a quarter of the market capitalisation of all Italian joint-stock companies.

After its longest post-war recession, Italy has become a hunting ground for foreign companies keen to buy prized but cash-strapped corporate names such as the world’s fifth-largest tyremaker Pirelli or automotive designer Pininfarina.

While previous Italian governments have been wary of foreign takeovers, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who came to power in 2014, has signalled he would not stand in their way.

He has also pledged to modernise the economy and cut red tape, especially a Byzantine legal and regulatory system long seen as one of the main hurdles to foreign investment.

Last year China National Chemical Corp took control of Pirelli, one of Italy’s oldest household names, in a 7.3 billion-euro ($7.85 billion) deal and India’s Mahindra group agreed to buy loss-making Pininfarina, known for designing Ferraris.

Other major foreign-led acquisitions included Swiss travel retailer Dufry’s takeover of Italian peer World Duty Free and a bid by Japan’s Hitachi for the rail assets of defence and aerospace group Finmeccanica.

The acquisitions have also raised fears that they could dilute the “Made in Italy” branding of goods or lead to job cuts.

“We are worried. Often these international financial giants buy only for speculative reasons and not to invest,” Unimpresa’s president Paolo Longobardi said in a statement.

Some of last year’s takeovers reduced the holdings of Italian families, which have traditionally dominated the corporate landscape but struggled to compete at the global level and make large investments to spur growth.

Dufry bought its initial World Duty Free stake from Edizione, the holding company of the Benetton family while last month U.S. conglomerate United Technologies said it would buy a 70 percent stake in family-owned heating systems group Riello. ($1 = 0.9307 euros) (Reporting by Agnieszka Flak; Editing by Greg Mahlich)