After giving close scrutiny to effect of private equity and sovereign wealth on global markets, it has finally occurred to the OECD that they may want to check in on the world’s most powerful state-owned companies, which have often shown a political streak in their decision making and acquisitions.  This one comes from the Financial Times:

Mr Gurria told international investors at the annual conference of the International Corporate Governance Network in Seoul these new investors played a positive role in capital markets and should not be treated differently from other investors through the creation of new laws or codes. But he highlighted the growing role of state-owned companies in global markets, which he said had “received less attention so far”.

“Only four years ago, the world’s 10 largest listed companies in terms of market value were private commercial entities domiciled in the US and Europe. Today, five of the top 10 publicly traded corporations are government controlled. Three of these are Chinese, including PetroChina. Another is Russian (Gazprom) and one Brazilian (Petrobras).

“Partially state-owned enterprises, such as Electricité de France, Eni, Enel and the telecoms companies of Germany and France, are among the world’s 100 largest publicly traded companies.” These state-owned companies were becoming more important as they consolidated and expanded into other markets, he said.