Weekend Long Read: China SOE Reform Will Turn Companies Into Investors

A pilot program to reform the way Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) under the control of the central government run their businesses has just passed a milestone in an important transition away from a focus on operational management to managing their capital.

From ‘operational management’ to ‘managing capital’

The State Council’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), which oversees central government-administrated nonfinancial SOEs, said on June 20 that it had released a notice naming five SOEs that will be officially transformed into state-owned capital investment companies (国有资本投资公司), the first batch among 19 companies chosen to take part in the pilot.