China is planning to build an asset management company to speed up the restructuring of smaller and underperforming state-owned enterprises.

The new company will merge some smaller SOEs controlled by the central government to achieve the government's efforts to cut the number of SOEs, China Securities Journal cited an unidentified official from the commission as saying today.

Registered capital of the new company will come from dividends the SOEs paid to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission last year, the official said.

Last year, the state-owned asset regulator collected 54.78 billion yuan from SOEs. It is estimated that the size of the new company could reach billions of yuan, the report said.

SOEs under the central government control were required in 2007 to offer 5 to 10 percent of earnings as dividends depending on their industries.

Zhang Wenkui, deputy director of the corporate research unit at the Development Research Center of the State Council, said the new company would aim at handling non-performing assets and speeding up restructuring SOEs.

The commission will reduce state-run enterprises to between 80 and 100 firms by the end of next year.

(Shanghai Daily March 3, 2009)