The regulator of China's State-owned enterprises (SOEs) denied a Monday report saying private investors can establish private equity consortia to purchase up to 15 percent of equities in SOEs, cs.com.cn, the website of the official China Securities Journal, reported in a post on Monday afternoon.
A Beijing-based newspaper cited Bai Yingzi, director of the enterprise reform division at the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC), as saying in an article Monday that private firms could set up equity consortia to buy into SOEs or take on specific projects as a potential tactic for most private enterprises to invest in giant SOEs.
But unnamed staffers with the SASAC ?declared the report about private investment being allowed to purchase a maximum of 15 percent of SOE assets is groundless, as the newspaper had a big misunderstanding about Bai's viewpoint and statement, according to the website post.
The SASAC did not hit back against the rest of the newspaper report, which stated that major steps to reform the country's SOE sector will be expected after the four-dayThird Plenary Session of the 18thCommunist Party of China Central Committee, which convened Saturday.
Private investors are already allowed to buy shares in major State-owned enterprises listed on domestic stock exchanges, but State-owned ?entities usually retain a controlling interest.
The Xinhua News Agency reported in June that public utilities would be opened up to private investment.
In late October, an influential think tank, the State Council's Development Research Centre, recommended ending State-owned monopolies in the rail, oil and gas, and electricity industries.
Other high-level officials, including former Premier Wen Jiabao, have called for State-owned banks, key financial enablers of inefficient SOEs, to be subjected to more competition.
The last time SOEs faced a major reform and restructuring program was in the 1990s. These days, SOEs are more profitable.
A report by Xinhua published Monday showed rising revenues at SOEs in 2013, with profits up 10.5 percent in the first three quarters of the year, citing data from theMinistry of Finance.
