ABSTRACT
Privatisation came on the world stage in 1980s when Margaret Thatcher privatised many public firms. The British Telecom sale proved that a global market for privatisation share issues existed and the size was not an impediment to privatisation. Many other countries also adopted privatisation programmes. By the end of the 1980s, the proceeds of sales of state enterprises worldwide were over $185 billion. In 1990s, the focus of privatisation shifted to Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union. Russia started with rapid mass privatisation in 1992. This accelerated the self dealing process and corruption. In Europe, many countries such as France and Italy launched a large scale privatisation. The case of Italy’s ENI is interesting where the government continue to hold 30% because of rich dividend flows. The global privatisation proceeds between 1990 and 1999 totalled US$ 850 billion. In 2000s, the transition countries put much of their remaining portfolio on the market and did not use vouchers. China has been one of the top privatising countries from 2009 to 2015. The global privatisation proceeds exceeded $1.1 trillion from January 2009 to November 2014. Post Covid-19 pandemic, some countries like India are aggressively continuing privatisation and monetisation of state assets while some governments like OECD countries are considering taking equity stakes in distressed firms.
