The Tianjin Property Rights Transaction Centre (TPRT), when welcoming its 10th anniversary, has witnessed robust growth in recent years and is striving to enhance its strength.

In March, the centre was appointed to be one of the trial exchanges for the assets and equity of State-owned enterprises (SOEs) by the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC).

According to a newly released regulation from the SASAC, all trading of the assets and equity of SOEs under supervision of the commission must enter the appointed exchanges.

Observers say that transactions involving equity of the SOEs is expected to become the second revolution of China's capital market, because the foreign-funded Merger & Acquisition (M&A) has been recognized as one of the important channels for the restructuring of China's SOEs.

As well, relevant transaction must be conducted transparently and openly in the appointed exchanges in a bid to receive public supervision.

Late last year, the SASAC made in-depth research and inspection around all exchanges in China, and finally made a mature and careful decision by selecting the Tianjin centre as one of the appointed exchanges on a trial basis.

This move by the SASAC brews more opportunities for the Tianjin centre, which boasts an esteemed reputation and credibility in China's equity exchange market.

Over the past 10 years, the centre has won high approval and widespread recognition from the SASAC, the Ministry of Finance, various financial institutions and many partners at home and abroad.

The centre also boasts 43 membership exchanges based in 16 provinces municipalities and autonomous regions in northern China.

The information sharing and integrated market processes consolidate the centre's core competence and position as the leader in the exchange market in northern China.

In December of last year, a SASAC-sponsored high-profile forum on the restructuring of State-owned assets and the equity market was held in Tianjin.

TPRT's first-rate service, unique M&A channels and established reputation have helped Tianjin promote its image as an ideal investment destination and financial centre. As well, as it was selected to be the equity exchange of the central SOEs, its strength has been greatly enhanced.

Tianjin Mayor Dai Xianglong is keen on the expansion programmes associated with the centre.

"We will enlarge the space of the centre from its present 2,000 square metres to 120,000 square metres, with the opening of a new building in the future." said TPRT President Gao Luan.

As well, Mayor Dai greatly supported the development of the Property Rights Guide journal which is attached to the centre, and is the only professional journal in domestic equity exchange market. It will soon enlarge its distribution in China.

For several years, the journal was only distributed in certain exchanges and research institutions in China.

Next month, it will start to push public issuance and start to expand distribution channels.

Experts say that the widened distribution of the journal will give more professional guidance to the domestic exchange market, as the journal has been regarded to be the only professional exchange research journal in China.

As well, the Tianjin municipal government plans to give strong financial and policy support to the centre, as the centre's business markets have expanded dramatically in recent years.

At present, centre representatives are in talks with leading financial institutions from around the world, such as Citigroup, in a bid to offer more M&A channels to the large SOEs.

Many foreign companies and institutions have kept a close watch on the SOEs equity exchange market in China and want to use the Tianjin centre's platform to acquire the assets and equities of domestic enterprises.

Last year, 537 equity transaction deals were successfully completed in the centre, growing by 50 per cent compared with the figure from 2002. The trading volume totalled 15.1 billion yuan (US$1.8 billion) last year, recording a 134.1 per cent growth.