Reprivatisation

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The transition of an enterprise from state control back to private ownership involves reverting previously nationalized assets to private stakeholders
2. Involves the reverse of nationalization where previously state-run services or industries are handed back to private ownership
3. The act of transferring control of businesses or industries from government hands back to private owners

Etymology: Reprivatisation is a plain compound: the prefix "re-", meaning "again" or "back", attached to "privatisation", the process of moving a state-owned enterprise into private hands. Put together, it names the reverse journey, where an industry or company that governments had taken into public ownership is sold or handed back to private investors. The logic of the word is therefore a story told by its prefix. Privatisation already implies that something once private became public and is now being made private again, so adding "re-" marks a second swing of the pendulum. The word describes a deliberate policy choice rather than an accident, and it appears most often in discussions of economies that nationalised key sectors and later reversed course.

Synonyms: re-privatization