Beijing encourages frms to ofoad debt

摘要

The Chinese government will resume eforts to bring corporate debt under control following a slew of high-profle bond defaults late last year. But it appears to be reshufing ownership of loss-making assets rather than risking a painful reckoning with so-called zombie frms. Beijing has become increasingly concerned about rising debt, especially among state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Rather than raise interest rates and potentially choke of a still-fragile recovery, it is encouraging frms to give equity in indebted subsidiaries to state-run asset management companies or other state entities. CNOOC last month completed a transaction to dispose of shares in one of its less proftable refneries by transferring a 74.5pc stake in the 68,000 b/d Shandong Haihua plant to the local arm of government asset regulator Sasac and state-owned China National Salt Industry. Haihua lost 108.8mn yuan ($16.9mn) in January-September. Its restructuring follows a corruption investiga-tion in June into Han Xingsan, former general manager of CNOOC Oil and Petrochemicals, which owned Haihua.