China to tighten supervision of State assets

BEIJING - China's State-owned enterprise (SOE) watchdog said Monday that it will increase supervision to prevent losses of State assets.

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) plans a guideline this year to prevent the draining of State assets during a mixed-ownership period.

China is pushing ahead with the mixed-ownership by soliciting private investors to partner with SOEs in a bid to reinvigorate the inefficient public sector.

SASAC will help establish a board of directors for these public-private joint ventures and regulate salaries of senior managers.

SASAC will also strengthen supervision of private investors and consider sending a supervisors to mixed-owned companies.

The first mixed-ownership SOE, oil refiner Sinopec announced sale of a 29.99-percent stake in its sales arm for 107.1 billion yuan ($17.4 billion) to 25 private companies last September. The sale was completed in March.

China's cabinet listed mixed-ownership as one of a 2015 priority, promising to ward off losses of State assets during the process.