Web Exclusive

'CIC' II to launch this year

By Yu Hongyan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-03-22 13:05

A new State-owned asset managing company, nicknamed "CIC II", will be launched in the first half of this year, the Shanghai Securities News reported today.

The company,s official name is likely to be Guoxin Asset Management Co, the newspaper said, citing Shao Ning, deputy head of the State-owned Asset Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC).

The major function of the new company, wholly owned by the SASAC, is to facilitate consolidation of State-owned enterprises (SOEs) under direct supervision of the commission to help meet its goal to reduce the current 128 centrally-administered SOEs to 80 to 100 by the end of this year.

Industry insiders dubbed the new company ,CIC II, as its role in managing State-owned assets in the country,s industrial sector is akin to that of China Investment Corp (CIC), which manages part of the country's foreign exchange reserves in the financial sector.

The new company, with a registered capital of about 50 billion yuan, will focus on assets management, with additional functions such as bad assets disposition and equity operations. It will merge and restructure 20 to 30 smaller SOEs, the newspaper reported.