Government Wants To List Soes In The Johannesburg Stock Exchange
South Africas government is exploring the possibility of listing state-owned enterprises SOEs in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange JSE.
Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Maropene Ramokgopa, revealed this during a visit to the JSE on Thursday 16 January.
SOEs could be listed in JSERamokgopa said this is part of the governments efforts to expand public-private partnerships and attracting investments.
"Before it used to be that SOEs are just government controlled and governed, but now we are coming up with a bill that is already in Parliament. We are hoping that by the end of February the last leg of public participation is finalised, Ramokgopa told SABC News .
That would allow us to start saying that SOEs can actually be listed, whereas before they were not part of that. So, the process of ensuring that our SOEs are based on market orientation has already started."
The National State Enterprises Bill , which is currently before Parliament, proposes that the President develops a National Strategy for SOEs.
Among other requirements, the Strategy must contain details of:
- Any permitted alterations of shareholding.
- Any recapitalisation and other matters relating to financial turnaround.
- Any potential private sector involvement.
It is thought that these provisions open the possibility of private investments in SOEs, including through listing in the JSE, a process that would allow the public to buy and sell an SOEs shares.
Several state-owned enterprises, such as Transnet and Eskom, have often relied on government bailouts in recent years to continue operations.