State-owned enterprises going public - The case of China

Public listing is a key reform measure for large state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China. We find evidence that public listing lowers state ownership significantly, lessens firms' reliance on debt finance, and allows firms to increase capital expenditure, at least temporarily. We also find that ownership structure affects post-listing performance. However, we find no statistical evidence of a positive effect of public listing on firms' profitability. We suggest alternative interpretations of the last finding.