They wouldn’t have taken non-voting shares if this were the stance they were taking. When the government owns a controlling interest in a private company, investors will shy away from it. Even if the government doesn’t run the day-to-day operations, they can replace management at-will with people who will obey commands based upon political interests of the ruling party. That is an unacceptable risk to many investors. Ultimately, if they own it, they run it.

The point is that the outcome would not have been the same, because investors would not have treated the companies the same.