BEIJING, July 15 -- Six big state-owned enterprises (SOEs) will pilot reforms in ownership, management and supervision, Chinese authorities announced on Tuesday.

The companies are the State Development & Investment Corporation (SDIC), China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO), China National Building Materials Group (CNBM), China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group (CECEP), Xinxing Cathay International Group (XXCIG) and China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), according to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC).

The SDIC and COFCO will be "reorganized" to establish "state-owned asset investment companies" on a trial basis. Mixed-ownership pilot reforms will be carried out at Sinopharm and CNBM, said SASAC spokesman Peng Huagang at a press conference.

A more effective board of directors system will be set up at XXCIG, CECEP, Sinopharm and CNBM, and "disciplinary inspection teams" will be sent to another two or three unnamed SOEs, said Peng, who is also in charge of reform issues for the SASAC.

The "state-owned asset investment company" was designed to make the "state," the SASAC in this case, a stake-holder instead of a manager of a SOE so as to raise the company's management and operation efficiency.

These investment companies may resemble China's Central Huijin Investment Ltd. which is an investor in major state-owned financial institutions on behalf of the state.

For mixed-ownership reform, SOE giants like China National Petroleum Co. and China Telecom have carried out their own plans to diversify corporate ownership and attract social funds.

The reforms aim to "explore new state-owned asset management modes focused on the management of assets rather than the companies, find effective means for developing a mixed-ownership economy, improve corporate governance structure, and strengthen supervision of executives, Peng said.

The announcement came eight months after the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee unveiled a sweeping reform agenda including bids to improve the management of state-owned assets and SOEs.