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Nationalization or nationalisation is the act of transferring assets into public ownership. It usually refers to the transfer of private assets, but may also mean assets owned by other levels of government, such as municipalities. The opposite of nationalization is usually privatization, but may also be municipalization. A renationalization occurs when assets are nationalized after a previous privatization. Nationalizations are distinguished from property redistributions in that in the former case, the government retains control of the property after acquisition.