Sinotrans
Senior government officials have said China will speed up restructuring of its state-owned enterprises in the second half of the year, forcing mergers of large conglomerates and accelerating sales of non-strategic assets across a wide range of sectors.
Wang Huisheng, president and chief executive of the largest state-owned industrial holding company, told the Financial Times in Beijing the government will now begin driving the process.
China has previously said it intends to reduce the number of giant state enterprises under central government control from 150 to as few as 80 by 2010. The State Development and Investment Corporation would consider selling assets to overseas and private investors.
Wang Huisheng said that in the shipping sector, Wuhan-based China Yangtze Transportation Group, the country’s biggest river shipping company, and Beijing-based Sinotrans Group, a logistics group that has partnered with Germany’s DHL, are set to merge at the urging of SASAC. This would allow them to compete with the state-owned China Shipping Group and COSCO.
Source: Financial Times