Beijing Seeks to Standardise Changes in State Ownership of Listed Companies

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The Chinese central government has launched new measures that seek to further standardise changes in the state-held equity stakes for listed enterprises.

On 18  May the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) jointly issued the “Listed Company State-owned Equity Supervisory and Administrative Measures” (上市公司国有股权监督管理办法).

According to regulators the new Measures serve to complement the “Enterprise State-owned Assets Transaction Supervisory and Administrative Measures” (企业国有资产交易监督管理办法) that were previously issued in 2016, to jointly comprise a “complete enterprise state-owned assets transaction regulatory system covering state-held equity in listed companies and state ownership of non-listed companies.”

The new Measures seek to standardise changes in the state-owned equity of listed companies including both reductions and increases, by focusing upon four key areas:

i) The standardisation of systems and rules, and the integration of departmental regulations and standardised documents that had previously been scattered. The Measures also seek to raise the “concentration and authoritativeness” of the system, and make implementation by enterprises easier.

ii) Strict tier-based regulation of state-owned assets. The State Council’s state-owned assets supervisory and regulatory body had previously been responsible for the inspection and approval of the transfer of equity stakes in listed companies by state-owned shareholders.

Following the launch of the new Measures, the local state-owned assets supervisory and regulatory body will be responsible for any changes in state-owned equity made with respect to local listed concerns.

iii) The setting of rational restrictions on regulatory authority. Under the Measures state-owned capital-contributors will be fully responsible for corporate internal matters, as well as transfer or issuance of securities within set percentages or volume scopes.

State-owned asset supervisory and regulatory agents will instead be responsible for strengthening regulation via “digitised means.”

iv) Adjustments and improvements to some regulations, maintaining consistency with securities regulations, and minimising reduplication of rules.