Shanghai’s first national intellectual property rights protection service center was established in the Pudong New Area to shorten the patent application process and enhance IPR protection. The China (Pudong) Intellectual Property Rights Protection Center in the Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park will help halve the application process to about 15 months, said Lu Guoqiang, Director of the Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration. “A shorter process will help to increase the competitiveness of local companies in the face of fierce global competition on new technologies,” Lu told a press conference. Previously, applications had to be filed with the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) in Beijing, a process which could take about 30 months. The center will hire an expert panel to evaluate and help improve the patents before submitting them to the national office. Those submitted through the Pudong center will enjoy a faster “green channel” in Beijing, Lu said. Currently, the center offers fast access for the high-end manufacturing and bio-pharmaceutical industries for Pudong-based companies from both home and abroad. The service will expand later.

China’s industrial output grew the fastest in the first half over the past three years due to the country’s restructuring and upgrading, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said. Industrial output expanded 6.9% from a year ago in the first six months, the quickest since 2014, said MIIT Spokesman Zheng Lixin, adding that the growth resulted from supply-side reform and technology upgrading. By the end of June, China has cracked down on low quality steel and cut overcapacity in industries like cement and aluminum. Electronics and equipment manufacturing led industrial growth over the first half, with output surging 13.9% and 10.9% year-on-year respectively. Meanwhile, revenues of domestic industrial firms rose 13.5% over the first half year from a year ago – 10.6 percentage points higher than last year – while profit surged 22.7% annually, 11.6 percentage points faster from the same period last year, the Shanghai Daily reports.

China’s major industrial companies posted faster profit growth in June amid higher sales and increased efficiency. They reported a profit rise of 19.1% year-on-year to CNY727.8 billion last month, 2.4 percentage points faster than in May. Equipment manufacturing took a 40.7% share of profits in June, up 11.3 percentage points compared to May, while mining accounted for 22.1%, down 13.4 percentage points. Companies have improved their profitability, lowered costs and cut their debt ratio as a result of the supply-side reforms. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 38 of 41 industries surveyed reported a growth in profits, led by the coal and metal industries. For the first half, profits rose 22% to CNY3.63 trillion. Profits at China’s state-owned industrial enterprises were up 45.8% at CNY805.5 billion in the first half. Private companies reported a 14.8% increase in profits to CNY1.19 trillion in the first half. The corporate leverage ratio continued to decline. Debt-asset ratios of major industrial firms dropped 0.8 percentage points year-on-year to 55.9%. Despite a general improvement, data related to financing costs rose, indicating higher funding pressure on companies.

All 101 firms controlled by the central government are to complete restructuring to become limited liability and joint stock companies by the end of 2017. Analysts said that converting the firms into modern corporations with a relatively clear ownership structures could pave the way for future equity transfers. Some 90% of the country’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have already been restructured. Committees will lead the restructuring process and prevent the loss of state assets, meaning that stakes cannot be sold at a discount. State enterprises were also told to adopt a market-oriented mindset. President Xi Jinping has made clear that overhauling the state sector is crucial to cutting the debt load and reshaping the economy, but the reform process continued to fall behind expectations.

State firms are estimated to account for around 70% of the country’s total non-financial debt, and many zombie companies are state-funded. “The key to reforming the state-owned enterprises is to break down market monopolies, to give up preferential policies and strictly supervise income,” said Sheng Hong, Director of the Unirule Institute of Economics and one of the most vocal critics of China’s state sector. “Otherwise, the so-called mixed ownership reform is just a slogan and it won’t have any real effect.” In the latest case, China Unicom is in talks to sell stakes to Alibaba Group and Tencent Technology. China’s state-owned companies reported steady profit growth in the first half of the year, totaling CNY1.41 trillion, up 24.3% year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Finance. Coal, petroleum and petrochemicals, and the transport sectors, posted strong annual growth while sectors such as electricity suffered a fall in profits. Some 48 central SOEs were on the Fortune Global 500 list this year, with State Grid and Sinopec second and third.

China Eastern Air Holding Co is to acquire a 10% stake in Air France-KLM Group for about €million. This is the Shanghai-based carrier’s largest strategic investment and is expected to speed up its global expansion. Both airlines also signed a separate agreement for market cooperation. Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines also announced it will acquire a 10% stake in Air France-KLM. Delta Air is China Eastern’s U.S. partner, and holds a 3.55% stake in China Eastern. China Eastern and Delta will each have one representative on the board of Air France-KLM. China Eastern, Delta and Air France-KLM are members of SkyTeam. China Eastern and Air France-KLM will simplify transit procedures, improve passenger and luggage services, and share some resources. China Eastern has a fleet of more than 650 aircraft and serves more than 100 million passengers every year. It operates 67 flights per week to Europe, the China Daily reports.

Sunac China, one of the country’s most indebted developers, is raising up to HKD4.2 billion in a share placement after it agreed to buy Dalian Wanda Group’s tourism projects for CNY43.8 billion last week. The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) on June 20 verbally instructed large banks to cut off funding for six of Wanda’s overseas purchases including U.S. movie maker Legendary Entertainment. The Wanda deal brought Sunac’s total spending to CNY110 billion in the past six months, including a CNY15 billion capital injection into cash-strapped LeEco Group. Sunac’s net-debt-to-equity ratio surged to 208% at the end of 2016, from 75% in 2015.