When a state-owned business is not sustainable anymore, you have the options of either sell, restructure or shut it down.

If you cannot afford the social-economic consequences of shutting it down, you are left with the choices of either restructuring or selling it outright.

If you do not have the money to restructure it, then you have no choice but to sell it.

As government, in selling it you try to get the best deal possible that permits the business to be sustainable again.

But in selling it you must find a buyer. Finding a buyer for a structure that has little economic value as is, is next to impossible.

Luckily there are those investors around that still see potential in obtaining economic value, where others have given up or do not have the means. Lucky, because if you do not manage to find a buyer, you would have to shut it down anyway. With all its socio-economic consequences.

Sticking to business as usual conditions, however, certainly will NOT contribute to that longer-term sustainability (to a certain extent) you are seeking for guaranteeing socio-economic benefits.

So, the key is to negotiate rationally with the potential investor to get the best deal possible to guarantee those benefits. For otherwise there is no other option left, but to shut it down after all.