Title page

Contents

INTRODUCTION 2

1. CORPORATE STRUCTURES WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS 4

1.1. Varieties of state ownership 5

1.2. Listing status 13

1.3. Examples 18

1.4. CCP influence in the private sector 25

2. MAPPING THE LANDSCAPE OF CHINA'S LARGEST COMPANIES 28

2.1. Findings on China's largest companies by revenue 31

2.2. Findings on China's largest listed companies by market cap 38

2.3. Drivers 43

CONCLUSION 54

REFERENCES 56

APPENDIX A: METHODOLOGICAL CHOICES ON METRICS, DATA, SAMPLING, AND CODING 60

APPENDIX B: CHINESE COMPANIES IN 2021 FORTUNE GLOBAL 500 RANKING 68

APPENDIX C: CHINESE TOP LISTED 100 COMPANIES BY MARKET CAPITALISATION AT END-2021 77

Table 1. Comparing taxonomies 10

Table 2. Chinese companies in the 2021 Fortune Global 500 ranking, by ownership and listing status 34

Table 3. Non-public enterprises among Chinese Fortune 500 companies, 2015 versus 2021 37

Table 4. Top 25 non-public enterprises by market capitalisation, end-2021 42

Table 5. Top 10 listed state-owned, mixed-ownership, and nonpublic enterprises by market capitalisation, 2010 versus 2021 43

Table 6. Changes in ownership category 45

Table 7. Average and median state ownership stake in Chinese Listed Top 100 companies at end-2010 and end-2020 46

Table 8. Impact of new listings during 2011-21 on the 2021 Chinese Listed Top 100 49

Figure 1. Subset of Chinese companies in the Fortune Global 500 rankings 29

Figure 2. Aggregate revenue of Chinese Fortune 500 companies, by ownership category, 2004-20 32

Figure 3. Share of the private sector (nonpublic enterprises) in subset of Chinese Fortune 500 companies across different metrics, 2004-20 32

Figure 4. Share of aggregate revenue of Chinese Fortune 500 companies accounted for by listed companies, 2004-20 34

Figure 5. Revenue of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and mixed-ownership enterprises (MOEs) among Chinese Fortune 500 companies, by listing status... 35

Figure 6. Listing status of nonpublic enterprises (NPEs) among Chinese Fortune 500 companies, 2004-20 36

Figure 7. Aggregate market capitalization of Chinese Listed Top 100 companies, by ownership category, 2010-21 39

Figure 8. Share of the private sector (nonpublic enterprises) in Chinese Listed Top 100 companies across different aggregates, 2010-21 40

Figure 9. Platform-services companies among nonpublic enterprises (NPEs) in Chinese Listed Top 100, 2010-21 41

Figure 10. State ownership in 2010 versus 2020 among Chinese Listed Top 100 by market capitalisation at end-2010 47

Figure 11. "New" vs "old" listings among Chinese Listed Top 100, aggregate market capitalisation, by ownership category, 2010-21 49

Figure 12. Number of Chinese listed companies, by listing jurisdiction, 2010-21 50

Figure 13. Sectoral mix of Chinese Fortune 500 companies, by aggregate revenue, 2004-20 51

Figure 14. Sectoral mix of Chinese Listed Top 100 companies, by aggregate market capitalisation, 2010-21 51

Figure 15. Revenue of Chinese Fortune 500 companies, by sector and ownership category, 2004-20 52

Figure 16. Market capitalisation of Chinese Listed Top 100 companies, by sector and ownership category, 2010-21 53

Boxes

Box 1. 'Actual controller' in mainland Chinese law and statistics 6

Box 2. China's SASACs and other state holding entities 11

Box 3. China's variable-interest entities 17