BEIJING, July 19 (Xinhua) -- China plans to accelerate the restructuring of centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in 2016, reported the Xinhua-run newspaper Economic Information Daily. By now, the total number has been reduced to 105 after an acquisition of Chinatex Corporation by COFCO announced July 15 by the top regulator of SOEs.
According to the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC), after the restructuring, Chinatex will become a wholly subsidiary of COFCO and will not act under the direct supervision of SASAC.
The newspaper disclosed that the critical reason for the restructuring of the two lies in that they have overlapped with each other in grain and oil business. The move aims to realize resource optimization through powerful alliance.
A senior insider noted that the restructuring can help unify China's grain and oil exports, uplift industrial efficiency, and make China have greater say in the global grain and oil market.
In fact, this is only one of the M&A cases announced by centrally-administered SOEs in recent days. Wuhan Iron and Steel (Group) and Baosteel Group Corporation declared on June 26 that they are arranging strategic restructuring matters and the specific plan is subject to the approval of the authorities when fixed.
Moreover, SASAC announced on July 11 that CITS Group Corporation has become a wholly-subsidiary of China National Travel Service (HK) Group Corporation.
"The upcoming three years will witness an acceleration of SOEs restructuring. Various forms of restructuring including joint stocks, stock holding and M&A will take on an obvious increase," said Li Jin, chief researcher with the China Enterprise Institute. (Edited by Zhang Yuan, zhangyuan11@xinhua.org)
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