As policies for corporate mergers and acquisitions continue to improve and the pace of industrial transformation accelerates, the A-share market has seen a steady rise in M&A activity. According to data from Tonghuashun, as of July 30, A-share listed companies have completed 140 M&A projects this month.
Yuan Huaming, general manager of Guangdong Huahui Chuangfu Investment Management Co., Ltd., noted that in the past, companies pursuing M&A primarily focused on scale expansion and market value management. However, the current main objectives have shifted to eliminating inefficient production capacity, reducing industry competition, filling technological gaps, and strengthening core business competitiveness.
Looking at the completed M&A projects this month, their purposes primarily include: improving the asset scale, revenue scale, and profitability of listed companies; closely aligning with the listed company's main business to extend the industrial chain and enrich the product matrix; and leveraging synergies to enhance risk resistance and sustainable development capabilities.
Zhang Pengyuan, a researcher at Shenzhen Paipaiwang Fund Sales Co., Ltd., explained that the underlying logic of the current M&A market is undergoing multiple transformations. These include a shift from "scale expansion" to "industrial chain synergy," where past horizontal expansion and diversified cross-industry moves are being replaced by upstream and downstream support centered on the main business, with a deep focus on core operations becoming the primary goal. Additionally, M&A now emphasizes "value creation," focusing on acquiring core technologies, integrating industrial resources, and cultivating new productive forces. Furthermore, there is a shift from "profit-only valuation" to "inclusive valuation" for science and innovation enterprises with "high R&D and pre-profitability" attributes, where the market is moving beyond a single profit perspective to differentiated pricing that considers R&D investment, technological barriers, and synergies.
Beyond the companies that have already completed M&A projects, many companies have also announced new M&A plans in July. Zhang Pengyuan believes that the industry has entered a "survival of the fittest" consolidation phase. Leading companies are achieving capacity clearing and concentration improvement through acquiring small and medium-sized targets. Hard-tech industrial chains are accelerating vertical restructuring, with upstream and downstream collaborative M&A promoting supply chain self-reliance. Industrial capital and state-owned M&A funds are optimizing resource allocation based on industrial logic.
M&A is not simply about resource stacking but achieving synergies. "First, the merging parties must have the industrial conditions and foundation to realize synergies. Second, the transaction price must be fair and reasonable, and the transaction plan must have constraints and incentives for both parties," Yuan Huaming said. In the short term, companies need to quickly complete financial accounting unification, internal control system integration, retention of core talent, and incentive mechanism setup to stabilize the basic business operations. In the medium term, focus should be on supply chain resource integration, market channel connectivity, R&D technology sharing, and production manufacturing collaboration to maximize the value of industrial linkage. In the long term, the priority is to optimize organizational structure, align corporate culture, and achieve deep integration between the two companies from business to management. At the same time, it is recommended that both parties establish a dedicated integration team, set clear assessment targets, regularly track integration progress, promptly identify and resolve operational integration issues, and ensure the continuous release of M&A value.
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