Recently Nihon Keizai Shimbun Electronic Edition reported the following:
中国政府、進む民間支配 アント上場延期・議決権50社
習政権 中国・台湾
2020/11/13 23:00 (2020/11/14 5:20更新) 日本経済新聞 電子版
【上海=張勇祥】中国の習近平（シー・ジンピン）指導部が民間企業への支配を強めている。アリババ集団傘下の金融会社、アント・グループを上場延期に追い込んだほか、2020年に政府や国有企業が実質的に傘下に収めた上場企業は50社超と急増する。習指導部は外需への過度な依存を修正する経済政策「双循環」を打ち出し、対立する米国との持久戦を図る。
アントを巡っては米紙ウォール・ストリート・ジャーナルが12日、習国家主席が直接、新規株式公開（IPO）の延期を決めたと報じた。アントの経営を握る馬雲（ジャック・マー）氏が政府の金融監督に批判的な発言を繰り返したのが直接の引き金とされる。
スマホ決済「支付宝（アリペイ）」で10億人を超す利用者を抱えるアントは、上場を通じ過去最高となる約3兆6千億円を調達する計画だった。金融当局はフィンテック企業の監視を強める規制も相次ぎ打ち出す。急膨張した企業に圧力をかける意図は鮮明だ。
中国は資本面でも民間企業の取り込みを急ぐ。
河南省洛陽市系の投資会社、国宏投資集団は9月15日、工業用ロボットの賽摩智能科技集団の経営権を取得する契約を結んだ。企業トップらが保有する同社株20%強を譲り受け、さらに議決権10%弱の行使を受託する。国宏投資は約3割の議決権を握って「実質的な支配者」になった。
株式の過半を取得しなくても、議決権の行使を受託するなどして企業を傘下に収める手法は中国で一般的だ。上場企業の開示をもとに中国政府や国有企業、政府系ファンドが民間企業を実質支配した事例を集計すると、20年は11月上旬までに少なくとも51社にのぼった。18、19年は20～30社ほどで、加速は鮮明だ。新型コロナウイルスの影響で企業を救済した例もあるが、中国にとって重要な戦略企業も含まれる。
背景には米中関係の改善が見通せないことがある。トランプ米政権は12日、人民解放軍と関係が深い中国企業について、米国投資家による株式などの購入を禁止すると発表した。バイデン前副大統領が大統領選で勝利を確実にしたが、米で根強い対中警戒論が消えるわけではない。
年央には「国家集成電路産業投資基金」など複数の政府系ファンドが、中国の半導体受託生産大手、中芯国際集成電路製造（SMIC）傘下企業の6割強の株式を握った。米国がSMICへの制裁を強めるなか、資金面で下支えする意図を明確にした。
米国との持久戦を念頭に、習指導部は7月に経済政策「双循環」を打ち出した。経済活動を国内だけでも円滑に回せるようにする狙いだ。政府の民間への影響力を強めるのが前提だが、競争のもとで効率を高める市場経済の考え方からは遠ざかる。資本をいかに有効に使って稼いだかを示す自己資本利益率（ROE）をみると、中国上場企業は10年12月期の13%から19年12月期は7%まで低下した。特に習指導部が発足した12年秋以降の低下が目立つ。
鄧小平氏が改革開放を唱えて以降、政府の国有企業への干渉を減らす「政企分離」の必要性が指摘されてきた。だが「ここ数年は明らかに後退している」（外国銀行）。中長期的に経営の重荷になる懸念が強い。
Translation
[Shanghai = Zhang Yongxiang] The Xi Jinping leadership in China had strengthened its domination over the private sector. In addition to pushing a delay of the listing of Ant Group that was a financial company under Alibaba Group, in 2020 the number of listed companies that effectively became government or acquired by state-owned enterprises had increased to more than 50. Xi's leadership launched an economic policy called "bi-circulation" to correct excessive dependence on external demand, aiming to fight an endurance war with the United States that was in conflict.
About the Ant, the Wall Street Journal reported on the 12th
that President Xi has directly decided to postpone its initial public offering
(IPO). It was said that the direct triggering was that Mr. Jack Ma, who held
the management of Ant, had repeatedly criticized the government's financial
supervision.
Ant, which had more than 1 billion users in the smartphone payment "Alipay", planned to raise a record high of about 3.6 trillion yen through listing. Meanwhile the Chinese financial authorities were launching a series of regulations to increase the scrutiny of fintech companies. An intention to put pressure on rapidly expanding companies was clear.
In respects of capital, China was rushing to bring in private companies.
On September 15, the Guohong Investment Group, an investment company affiliated with Luoyang City in Henan Province signed a contract to acquire management rights of the Saimo Technology Company Ltd. that dealt with industrial robots. It would take over 20% of the company's shares held by the top brass; and furthermore, it took over almost 10% of this company’s voting rights though entrusting. Guohong Investment had become a "substantial ruler" with about 30% of the voting rights.
It was common in China to absorb a company under its umbrella by ways of entrusting so that it could exercise voting rights without acquiring a majority stake. Based on the disclosure of listed companies, by the beginning of November, the number of cases in which a private enterprise was actually under the control of the Chinese government, state-owned enterprises, or government funds had reached 51 in the minimum. There were only about 20 to 30 such companies in 2018 and 2019, and the acceleration was obvious. In some cases, it was a move to rescue companies due to the new coronavirus, but it also included strategic companies that were important to China.
In the background, there was no prospect of an improvement in US-China relations. The Trump administration announced on the 12th that it would ban the purchase of stocks by US investors for Chinese companies that were closely related to the PLA. While former Vice President Joe Biden had secured a victory in the presidential election, yet the reasons for an US vigilance against China had not disappeared.
In the middle of the year, several government-affiliated funds such as the "National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund" held more than 60% of the shares of companies that were under the umbrella of the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) which was a major semiconductor manufacturing company contractor in China. As the United States tightened sanctions on SMIC, the intention to provide it with financial support was obvious.
With a continuous war with the United States in mind, Xi's leadership launched in July an economic policy, the "Twin Circulation". The aim was just to enable smooth economic activity inside China. It was premised on strengthening the influence of the government in the private sector, but it was far from the idea of a market economy that enhanced efficiency through competition. Looking at the return on equity (ROE), which showed how effectively the capital was used to earn money, Chinese listed companies fell from 13% as recorded in FY December / 2010 to 7% in FY December /2019. In particular, there was a conspicuous decline since the fall of 2012 when the Xi Guidance Department was first established.
Since Mr. Deng Xiaoping advocated reform and opening up, the need for a "Separation of politic from enterprises" to reduce the interference of the government with state-owned enterprises had been pointed out. However, "in the past few years a reversal is clear" (foreign banks). There was a strong concern that it could be a burden on the management in the medium and long term.
So, it
seems that the policy of “separating politics from enterprises" which aims
at reducing the interference of the government over state-owned enterprises is
retreating in China. Indeed, the Party’s hand has deepen its reach towards the private enterprises. It is also interesting to note that in China the authority can put a
company under its umbrella by exercising the voting rights acquired through
“entrusting” without holding a majority stake of that company. So, everything in China could be
up under the Party control if and when the needs arise.
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