Private companies in China's rust belt borrow money using trademark

SHENYANG - Private enterprises in Northeast China's Liaoning province are increasingly using intangible assets, including trademark rights, as loan collateral to ease financing difficulties.

Yingkou Tianyuan Chemical Research Institute Co Ltd owns the trademark "Tianyuan," recognized as a "China Famous Trademark" in 2015. The company took the ownership of the trademark as collateral for a loan of 90 million yuan ($13 million) from a local bank in Liaoning in November.

"The procedures for trademark mortgages are very simple," said Liang Qi, the company's finance director.

The company submitted the required materials to the local industrial and commercial bureau in October and received the loans in just over half a month, according to Liang.

A total of 428 trademarks have been pledged for loans in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, since 2016, and the total amount of trademark mortgages exceeded 1.59 billion yuan.

Enterprises which have trademarks of a certain popularity can submit applications to the local trademark administration to pledge the ownership of its trademark for loans.

As awareness of trademark creation and application grows, trademark mortgages have become a popular financing tool for enterprises in Shenyang, Liaoning, one of the three "Rust Belt" provinces in China's northeastern region, according to Liu Xiaoguang, an official with the local trademark supervision and administration office.

The state intellectual property office also approved the establishment of trademark pledge registration offices in other Liaoning cities including Dalian and Chaoyang this year.