China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. (Sinopec), Asia's biggest refiner, is poised to privatize its listed subsidiaries, beginning with Sinopec Beijing Yanhua Petrochemical, to streamline its assets.

Sinopec, could buy its remaining shares in Yanhua and delist the unit to fulfill the commitment it made during its initial public offering of cutting connected transactions with its listed subsidiaries.

Yanhua, the largest resin and plastics maker in China, halted the trading of its shares Wednesday on talks of the restructuring.

"We have a commitment to investors during our IPO to consolidate the assets," a Sinopec official said.

(Shenzhen Daily December 24, 2004)