Public sector undertaking

A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a legal entity that undertakes commercial activities on behalf of the state, its owner. The legal status of SOEs varies from being a part of the government to being with the state as a regular stockholder. The defining characteristics of SOEs are that they have a distinct legal form and are established to operate in commercial affairs and commercial activities. While they may also have public policy objectives (e.g., a state railway company may aim to make transportation more accessible), SOEs should be differentiated from other forms of government agencies or state entities established to pursue purely nonfinancial objectives.

Government-owned corporations are common with natural monopolies and infrastructure, such as railways and telecommunications, strategic goods and services (mail, weapons), natural resources and energy, politically sensitive business, broadcasting, demerit goods (e.g. alcoholic beverages), and merit goods (healthcare).

SOEs are also called state-owned company, state-owned entity, state enterprise, publicly owned corporation, government business enterprise, crown corporation, government-owned corporation, government-sponsored enterprises, commercial government agency, public sector undertaking, or parastatal.

SOEs can be fully owned or partially owned by government. As a definitional issue, it is difficult to determine categorically what level of state ownership would qualify an entity to be considered as state-owned since governments can also own regular , without implying any special interference. As an example, the China Investment Corporation agreed in 2007 to acquire a 10% interest in the global investment bank Morgan Stanley, but it is unlikely that it would qualify the latter as a government-owned corporation. Government-owned or state-run enterprises are often the result of corporatization, a process in which government agencies and departments are re-organized as semiautonomous corporate entities, sometimes with partial shares listed on .

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