(Yicai Global) Aug. 9 -- More than 70 heavily indebted Chinese firms have reached market-oriented agreements over debt-to-equity swaps worth a total of more than CNY1 trillion (USD149 billion), data from the nation's National Development and Reform Commission shows.

Several agencies have actively negotiated the deals with prospects for development in the steel, coal, chemical and equipment manufacturing sectors, state-owned China News Service cited the commission as saying on Aug. 8.

The NDRC stressed that the agreements will not only promote corporate deleveraging, but push the mixed-ownership reform of state-owned enterprises and the establishment of a long-term self-restraint system for corporate debt leveraging.