Mixed- ownership reform to expand, include SOEs at provincial level: NDRC

The pilot mixed- ownership reform program for centrally administered State- owned enterprises ( SOEs) will be broadened to include more companies, China’s National Development and Reform Commission ( NDRC) said on its website on Wednesday. Two groups of central SOEs about 20 in all are implementing the reform smoothly, said the NDRC, the country’s top economic planner.

The third group will have “dozens” of central and provincial- level SOEs to produce returns through scale, it said.

“Local governments ... will follow in the steps of the central government, and people in the local enterprises welcome the reform,” Feng Liguo, an expert at Beijing- based China Enterprise Confederation, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

“Lessons and experience from the mixed- ownership reform should be revealed publicly in a timely way to promote the process,” Feng said.

In the oil and gas sector, the government on Sunday an- nounced a plan to encourage eligible enterprises to diversify their shareholder base and introduce mixed- ownership reform, media reports said.

China National Petroleum Corp said that it will allow private companies to hold up to 49 percent in its oil exploration business, the report noted.

Mixed- ownership reform has the purpose of realizing innovation of the enterprise system, the NDRC said, which includes inviting strategic investors to optimize the equity structure of relevant SOEs, improving the composition of boards and accelerating compensation reform.