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One year after witnessing massive injections of government capital into financial systems, 2009 saw a record volume of state sales of corporate equity – or, stated more accurately, a record volume of corporate repurchases of government-owned shares.

Privatization proceeds totaled a record €184.30 billion ($265.17 billion) during 2009, but bank repurchases of government holdings of preferred shares accounted for €118.46 billion ($168.8 billion) of this record. For the first time ever, the United States was the world’s largest privatizer during 2009. China was the second largest privatizer of 2009. Find out more of 2009 privatization activity in the newly published Privatization Barometer Annual Report in partnership with KPMG.

Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei