Sichuan Expressway Co has transferred 50 million of its newly listed shares to the national pension fund as per the recent government directive.

So far, 13 to-be listed (or newly listed) State-owned companies have submitted share transfer plans to the national pension fund, involving transfer of nearly 2 billion shares.

Sichuan Expressway was the first firm to complete the transfer, the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) said yesterday.

The NSSF had 660 billion yuan worth of assets under its management as of June 30. After the State-owned shares transfer, this could go up to 740 billion yuan, the NSSF said.

The State Council, China's cabinet, said on June 19 that all State-owned companies that were listed after the 2005 reforms pertaining to State share holdings and companies that will list in future must transfer shares worth 10 percent of their IPOs to the national pension fund.

The measures involved 131 State-controlled enterprises and nearly 826 State-owned shareholders. About 8.39 billion shares will be transferred with market capitalization estimated at 63.9 billion yuan.

(China Daily July 31, 2009)