By Li Hongmei

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) plans to build three platforms to manage the government's assets, the China Securities Journal reports.

The SASAC will build an industrial investment firm, a state holding company, and a state-owned assets operating firm to manage the country's assets, sources revealed. It plans to pick one or two state-controlled firms to launch the pilot state holding company.

Several local governments will also create one or two state operating companies and other investment firms. The focus will be on transforming existing assets and approving fewer constructions to facilitate the capitalization of the current state assets, such as restructuring.

A SASAC official told the paper that the three platforms will focus on different areas. The industrial investment firm will focus on industrial development, such a platform will manage companies that are in specific industries, the official said.

He said that the state holding company will be responsible for capital investments and the companies it will manage will have diverse business interests. It will also strengthen focus on maximizing investment returns. The state-owned assets operating firm, meanwhile, will closely watch equity flows without focusing on specific industries, he added.

The firms China Resources, China Merchants Group and Sinochem are expected to be the first group to pilot the SASAC's new measures. SASAC is likely to grant investment and appraisal rights to the pilot state firms and allow them to operate the companies based on market mechanisms.

The platforms will reduce the government's interference in the state companies' operations, but will only focus on capital flow, the China Securities Journal said.