The presence of government-controlled business titans is largely unprecedented in history, bringing forward new questions about how their conduct can affect global markets. The OECD appears to be on the case, giving greater scrutiny to state-owned companies such as Gazprom. The Financial Times reports:

Angel Gurria, secretary-general, said state-owned enterprises were fast expanding beyond their home territories, buying up large shareholdings and companies. However, they were little understood, lacked transparency and often aroused suspicions in host states about their objectives. The initiative follows work done by the OECD on the emerging influence on global markets of private equity, hedge funds and sovereign wealth funds. 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”.