Sweden’s new government plans to reduce the state’s role in the economy substantially.
It will sell off stakes in some of the country’s best-known companies, including SAS and Nordea, the Nordic region’s largest bank.
In a change in economic direction, it has pledged to spin off holdings in unlisted state-controlled firms and to open up large parts of the economy to private-sector competition. The centre-right Alliance of Sweden ousted the Social Democrats, who had been in power for 12 consecutive years on Sunday.
Alliance plans to clear the way for a period of significant corporate restructuring and rapid changes to the private and services sectors. They may also spur a bout of mergers and acquisitions.
The new government’s policy is expected to involve three-stage period of privatisation and deregulation over the next three to five years, bankers said.
The first stage involves the sale of stakes in listed companies, then the sale of unlisted state-owned groups and finally the possible sale of public-services companies such as utilities.
Source by The Straits Time Singapore
