Opinion | Asking for a thing at the right time pays off for Citic Group
As reform of state-owned enterprises moves anew to the top of the agenda, it appears many rules have been bent to allow asset injection
In China’s corridors of power, where one man’s decision can override rules and regulations, asking for the right thing for the right reason at the right time is a make or break matter.
Citic Group chairman Chang Zhenming is certainly a master of the art.
He has successfully lobbied for the injection of Citic Group into subsidiary Citic Pacific, something which “would not have been possible six months ago” according to one retired state enterprise chairman.
Indeed. Six months ago, the country’s largest conglomerate was busy talking to bankers about a public offering in Hong Kong as a mainland-incorporated H-share company like many other state-owned enterprises.
But then, in November, President Xi Jinping pushed the Communist Party plenum into agreeing on a report that made SOE reform one of the country’s top agenda items. Reform has once again become the password to breaking many deadlocks.
With sceptics both at home and abroad, what better way to quiet them than the listing of Citic Group – a widely if not generally well known Chinese corporation – as a company incorporated in Hong Kong, often hailed as the world’s freest market economy.