The Österreichische Beteiligungs AG (ÖBAG; English: Austria Holding PLC) is an Austrian state-owned holding company that can be characterized as a sovereign wealth fund. It administers the investments of the Republic of Austria in partially or entirely nationalized companies. It is headquartered in Vienna.[1]
History
In 1967, the Österreichische Industrieverwaltungs-GmbH (Austrian industry administration GmbH) was established to centralize the administration of the interests in nationalized companies. It was transformed to the Österreichische Industrieverwaltungs-AG (Austrian industry administration AG) in 1970 and at the same instant got assigned the shares of the nationalized companies. The ÖIAG (since 1986) and the companies it owned formed a group (the Austrian Industries AG) until 1993, when this group was split and the ÖIAG was instructed to privatize the companies it owned.
In 2015, the Austrian state holding ÖIAG was turned into a limited liability company (GesmbH) called Österreichische Bundes- und Industriebeteiligungsholding (ÖBIB), which was permitted to make new acquisitions and which reported directly to the Ministry of Finance.[2] In 2018, the ÖBIB was reorganized into a public limited company again, called Österreichische Beteiligungs AG (ÖBAG).[3]