Tianjin Property Rights Exchange: actively building a globalized platform for property rights trading

Approved by the municipal government of Tianjin and founded in April 1994, the Tianjin Property Rights Exchange (TPRE) is a comprehensive, multi-functional, open and standardized property rights trading service agency. It has fully owned or partially owned eight specialized trading agencies such as Tianjin Equity Exchange, Tianjin Climate Exchange, Tianjin Precious Metals Exchange, Tianjin Financial Assets Exchange, Tianjin Agriculture Equity Exchange, Tianjin Culture Assets & Equity Exchange, Tianjin Technology Equity Exchange and Tianjin Equipment Swap Center. It set up an office in Frankfurt, Germany and representative offices in the UK and the Netherlands, to satisfy the trading requirements of all kinds of projects concerning rights in rem, equity, creditor’s rights and intellectual property. TPER is actively constructing a globalized platform for property rights trading.

TPER has a 12,000-sq-m office building, which is equipped with excellent hardware facilities and service, and complete cyber security system. It has developed into one of the largest, best-equipped and most influential property rights trading markets in China.

Seven property rights trading institutions from Tianjin, Beijing, Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, Qingdao and Harbin co-founded the North China Common Market for Property Rights Transaction in Tianjin in 2002. TPRE was selected as the president and the general secretary unit of the new organization. Currently, the North China Common Market for Property Rights Transaction has been an important regional market for property rights transaction of China and a capital platform for merger and acquisition.

In 2004, TPER was appointed as a pilot institution for central state-owned equity trading by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council and it was appointed as a pilot institution for central financial enterprises’ state-owned assets trading by the Ministry of Finance in 2008. In 2012, TPER signed a cooperation agreement with the Asset Management Division under the Government Offices Administration of the State Council (GOASC) and became a disposal platform for the central administrative organs’ assets. By then, TPER has become one of the three central state-owned assets transaction platforms in China.

Initiated by TPRE and approved by Tianjin Municipal Government, Tianjin Equity Exchange was established in September of 2008, and went on stream in December of 2008. Tianjin Equity Exchange is so far China’s only corporate institute for stock transaction of high-tech companies within high-tech parks and non-listed and non-public companies. It is an important platform for financial innovation and a significant move aiming at establishing a multi-layer capital market.

In March 2009, the Tianjin Branch of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China hammered out an intent agreement on mergers and acquisition loan cooperation with Tianjin Property Rights Exchange, marking the official operation of M&A loan business in Tianjin and enabled the city squeeze into the country’s first batch of cities that started the business.

In 2015, the Tianjin Property Rights Exchange made 2,324 deals worth 73.833 billion CNY of turnover. Its rate of return on common stockholders’ equity was 4.7 percentage points higher than the target set by the city’s state-owned assets supervision and administration commission. And its operating profit increased by 70.9 percent. The Exchange’s indicators for economic benefits have maintained a trend of solid growth, greatly enhancing its overall strength and realizing economic and social benefits since its establishment.