Shanghai’s government will encourage companies it owns to launch public listings in the next three to five years, according the city’s director of state-owned assets, the South China Morning Post reported. Yang Guoxiong, director of Shanghai’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, said the government would like to list at least 30% of its quality assets, worth a combined US$8.7 billion. No names of specific listing candidates have yet been revealed. Yang’s commission now controls 43 companies, and he said he expected the number to be reduced to 30-35 in the next five years by encouraging merger and acquisition deals.