The purpose of the study is to test the hypothesis on the influence of factors of state participation in management and the origin of assets on the management activity of public companies. The empirical base of the study is compiled using the data from 35 companies, included in the Moscow Exchange index at the beginning of 2020. The productivity of companies is estimated based on indicators of return on assets and average increase in the value of the shares for 2014-2020. The results confirm the importance of factors of state participation and the origin of assets for the interpretation of the public companies productivity. In the explanation of return on assets, the analyzed variables of ownership appeared to be the most significant. When assessing the average annual share price change, the most significant factors were return on assets, transparency of corporate reporting, and a variable of state-privatization origin ownership. The obtained results are explained by the sectoral distribution of companies based on the state-privatization origin of ownership, typical for the most profitable sectors of the Russian economy, such as metallurgy, production and export of hydrocarbons. The novelty of the results is the development of a new classification of companies based on the origin of their assets, what affects the dependent variables. The practical significance of the study lies in the proposed model for assessing the impact of the studied variables on the productivity of companies, which can be used when deciding to have state participation in public companies.