China approves restructure of two top shipping firms

China will restructure two of its biggest state-owned shipping companies, the government said today as it seeks to reform lumbering public companies to try to bolster growth.
The State Council, China's cabinet, approved the restructuring of China Ocean Shipping Group, known as Cosco, and China Shipping Group, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission said on its website, without detailing how the restructuring will be carried out.
The two companies may come to a full merger or combine some of their businesses, Bloomberg News reported in August, after several listed arms of the two giants halted trading as their parent companies were "planning on crucial matters".

Cosco is the largest shipping company in the country by fleet size, and China Shipping Group has total assets of USD 31.1 billion, according to their official websites.
If merged, the new entity would have a 7.7 per cent share of the global container market and become the fourth-biggest company in the industry, Bloomberg News reported, following APM-Maersk, Mediterranean Shg Co and CMA CGM Group, according to Alphaliner's ranking.
The approval followed news of the merger of two of China's largest metals firms, China Minmetals Corp and China Metallurgical Group Corp, announced earlier this week.

China, the world's second-largest economy, says it is overhauling its dominant state-owned sectors as it grapples with stalling growth.

It has already merged its top two train makers -- China CNR Corp and CSR Corp -- into a single conglomerate, aiming to avoid competition between the two as China vies for lucrative rail contracts overseas against industry giants such as Germany's Siemens and Bombardier of Canada.
The official Xinhua news agency reported in April that China was considering merging scores of its biggest state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to create around 40 national champions.
Total revenue from national SOEs dropped 7.1 per cent year-on-year to 13.21 trillion yuan ($2.16 trillion) in the first half of 2015, data from the finance ministry showed.