Soochow Securities Co Ltd

Soochow Securities announced on the evening of August 25 that it had replied to the Shanghai Stock Exchange's review inquiry regarding its plan to acquire an 83.68% stake in Donghai Securities through a share issuance. The company disclosed for the first time its overall integration approach: consolidating similar businesses, professionalizing operations, resolving horizontal competition, and optimizing the shareholding structure. It also pledged to resolve horizontal competition issues within five years after becoming the controlling shareholder. The total transaction price is 11.519 billion yuan, corresponding to a valuation of 13.765 billion yuan for 100% of Donghai Securities' equity, an appreciation rate of 40.76%. Soochow Securities said the pricing falls within a reasonable valuation range for the industry and explained the reasonableness of differences from historical transaction prices. The deal will generate goodwill of 3.145 billion yuan, and the calculation process has been fully disclosed. Meanwhile, due to the implementation of the 2025 annual dividend, the issue price was adjusted from 9.46 yuan per share to 9.24 yuan per share, and the number of shares to be issued was adjusted to approximately 1.167 billion shares. The transaction still requires approval from the shareholders' meeting, state-owned asset regulatory authorities, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

AMEC has disclosed an earnings forecast, estimating net profit attributable to owners of the parent for the first half of 2026 at 2.7 billion to 2.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 282.48% to 310.8%. Sunshine Co.'s holding subsidiary Sunshine Digital plans to invest no more than 980 million yuan to build the Sunshine Intelligent Computing Centre project in Xingning, Meizhou, Guangdong Province. Goldlok Toys' wholly-owned subsidiary Zhichen Technology has signed a 3.195 billion yuan computing power service contract with a customer for a service term of five years. Both Dali Technology and Renzi Xing have received approval from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange to remove their risk warnings, and will resume trading on August 5 with changed stock abbreviations. Daqin Railway plans to repurchase and cancel 400 million to 500 million yuan worth of shares at no more than 7.10 yuan per share. Bethel Automotive and Shenglan Technology have also disclosed repurchase plans. Soochow Securities' controlling shareholder, Guofa Group, plans to increase its shareholding by 100 million to 200 million yuan.

Soochow Securities announced that its controlling shareholder, Suzhou International Development Group, plans to increase its stake in the company through the Shanghai Stock Exchange system over the next six months, with the purchase amount ranging from no less than 100 million yuan to no more than 200 million yuan. The increase is based on confidence in the company's future development and a positive view of the long-term investment value of the domestic capital market.

On the evening of August 3, multiple listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges released important announcements. Sunshine Co.'s controlled subsidiary plans to invest up to 980 million yuan in building the Sunshine Intelligent Computing Center project. Goldlok Holdings' wholly-owned subsidiary signed a 3.195 billion yuan computing power service contract. Xingyun Technology's on-hand long-term framework orders for computing power and storage exceed 15.4 billion yuan. Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment expects net profit for the first half of the year to increase by 282.48% to 310.81% year-on-year. WuXi AppTec's net profit for the first half grew 29.43% year-on-year and plans to distribute 5.1 yuan per 10 shares. Several companies disclosed buyback and shareholding increase plans, with Sungrow Power planning to repurchase shares worth 500 million to 1 billion yuan, and Soochow Securities' controlling shareholder planning to increase its shareholding by 100 million to 200 million yuan. Additionally, ST Renzi Xing and ST Dali will have their risk warnings removed, and Sinoma International Engineering signed a 476 million US dollar overseas equipment supply contract.

On the evening of August 3, several listed companies disclosed important announcements. Daqin Railway plans to repurchase shares at a price not exceeding 7.10 yuan per share, spending between 400 million and 500 million yuan to buy back and cancel all repurchased shares, thereby reducing registered capital. The controlling shareholder of Soochow Securities, Guofa Group, plans to increase its holdings of company shares by 100 million to 200 million yuan within six months. Both Bethel Automotive and Shenglan Technology plan to repurchase shares worth 100 million to 200 million yuan, to be used for employee stock ownership plans or equity incentives, and for equity incentives or convertible bond conversions, respectively. WuXi AppTec disclosed its half-year report, achieving operating revenue of 28.897 billion yuan in the first half of 2026, a year-on-year increase of 38.93%, with net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company reaching 11.08 billion yuan, up 29.43% year-on-year, and plans to distribute a cash dividend of 5.10 yuan for every 10 shares. Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment expects a net profit attributable to the parent company of between 2.7 billion and 2.9 billion yuan for the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 282% to 310%, mainly due to revenue growth and a total of approximately 1.982 billion yuan in fair value changes and investment income from external equity investments. A subsidiary of Shida Shenghua's wholly-owned unit plans to invest in the construction of a 230,000-ton-per-year liquid lithium salt project, with an estimated total investment of 1.9 billion yuan and a reported investment of 1.7973723 billion yuan; another wholly-owned subsidiary plans to invest in a 200,000-ton-per-year electrolyte project, with an estimated total investment of 721.5 million yuan; additionally, the wholly-owned subsidiary Dongying Company plans to invest in a 12,000-ton-per-year additive project, with an estimated reported total investment of 285.87 million yuan. The wholly-owned subsidiary of Goldlok Holdings, Zhichen Technology, signed a computing power service contract worth 3.195 billion yuan, with a service term of five years, expected to add approximately 200 million yuan in revenue for the company in 2026. Both Dali Technology and Renzi Xing received approval from the exchange to remove their risk warnings, will suspend trading for one day on August 4, and resume trading on August 5 with changed stock abbreviations.

This evening, nearly 100 companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange released a flurry of positive signals, spanning share buybacks and stake increases, improving business performance, proposed selections in centralized drug procurement, and interim dividend returns. On the buyback and stake increase front, two new buyback plans were added by Bethel Automotive Safety Systems and Shandong Hi-Speed, with a combined proposed buyback cap of 400 million yuan. Soochow Securities disclosed a controlling shareholder's stake increase plan, with a proposed increase amount not exceeding 200 million yuan, while another 76 companies simultaneously disclosed progress updates on buybacks and stake increases. At the operational level, results of the 12th round of national centralized drug procurement were gradually announced, with multiple Shanghai-listed pharmaceutical companies including Harbin Pharmaceutical Group, Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical, China Resources Double-Crane Pharmaceutical, North China Pharmaceutical, Jiangsu Lianhuan Pharmaceutical, Aurisco Pharmaceutical, and Jianfeng Group declaring that their products have been proposed for selection. In terms of investor returns, four companies—WuXi AppTec, Zhejiang Jiuzhou Pharmaceutical, Kingfa Sci. & Tech., and Jasan Group—unveiled interim dividend plans on the same day. Among them, WuXi AppTec plans to distribute a cash dividend of 5.1 yuan per 10 shares, with the total interim dividend expected to exceed 1.5 billion yuan. Additionally, the controlling shareholder of Lujiazui voluntarily committed not to transfer or reduce its holdings in any way within the next 12 months, coinciding with the unlocking of restricted shares from the company's private placement.

Shanxi Securities has received a no-objection letter from the China Securities Regulatory Commission for its 1 billion Hong Kong dollar capital injection into its Hong Kong subsidiary, Shanxi Securities International. It becomes the seventh Chinese brokerage to disclose progress on capital increases for Hong Kong subsidiaries since 2026. Top-tier brokers are investing even more aggressively. CITIC Securities plans to raise 16 billion yuan through an H-share issuance, with all proceeds retained offshore. Guotai Junan and Haitong Securities have announced a 9 billion yuan capital injection into their Hong Kong financial holding platform. Huatai Securities and GF Securities previously injected 9 billion Hong Kong dollars and 6.101 billion Hong Kong dollars respectively into their Hong Kong subsidiaries. Leading institutions are pouring tens of billions of yuan into strengthening their offshore business foundations. Small and medium-sized brokers are also accelerating their efforts. The Hong Kong subsidiary capital increase plans of Soochow Securities and Huaan Securities have received regulatory approval, with amounts of 2 billion Hong Kong dollars and 500 million Hong Kong dollars respectively. China Great Wall Securities’ Hong Kong subsidiary has obtained three types of regulated licenses, and Northeast Securities’ Hong Kong subsidiary has completed registration. Shanxi Securities International, under Shanxi Securities, has established three business lines: FICC, cross-border investment banking, and distinctive asset management. Its net profit surged 239.36 percent year-on-year in 2025, making it a typical case of a small or medium-sized broker successfully building a profitable offshore business model. Data from the Securities Association of China shows that by the end of 2025, 34 mainland brokers had set up 36 overseas subsidiaries, with total assets of offshore platforms reaching 1.94 trillion Hong Kong dollars, up nearly 32 percent year-on-year. Total operating revenue for the full year reached 45.233 billion Hong Kong dollars, up 6.15 percent year-on-year. The contribution from top brokers’ offshore businesses continues to rise. CICC’s overseas revenue accounted for 29.46 percent of its total, CITIC Securities rose to 20.73 percent, and Guotai Junan and Haitong Securities jumped from 6.7 percent to 15.2 percent. A research report from Soochow Securities shows that in 2025, the return on equity of top brokers’ overseas subsidiaries generally exceeded the group’s overall level. CITIC Securities’ overseas subsidiary achieved an ROE of 25.3 percent, CICC’s was 15.9 percent, and Huatai, GF, and Guotai Junan and Haitong Securities were all above 12 percent. A McKinsey report points out that the acceleration of Chinese companies’ globalization, rising demand for global asset allocation from residents and institutions, and structural optimization opportunities in the global pricing of Chinese assets are the core drivers for brokers to increase their overseas presence. The non-bank financial team at Soochow Securities believes that the internationalization of Chinese brokers is still in its early stages, and in the future, overseas business is expected to upgrade from a marginal supplementary segment to a core growth pole. Lu Hao, co-lead analyst for the non-bank financial sector at CITIC Securities, stated that with broader global market boundaries and higher asset return levels, the overseas business will continue to unleash a pulling effect on the overall profitability of brokerage groups. Bo Xiaoxu, non-bank analyst at AVIC Securities, added that developing international business can effectively diversify the risk of single-market volatility and optimize the revenue structure.

As of July 15, 73 securities firms have issued a combined total of more than 1.35 trillion yuan in onshore bonds since the start of 2026, a year-on-year increase of over 96%. Recently, a number of listed brokers including China Merchants Securities, GF Securities, Guolian Minsheng, Soochow Securities, and Zhongtai Securities have received intensive approvals from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to issue large corporate bonds, while Shenwan Hongyuan obtained registration approval for perpetual subordinated bonds in July. In a low interest rate environment, enthusiasm for broker bond subscriptions is running high. Taking China Galaxy Securities as an example, the first tranche of its fifth corporate bond issue carried a coupon rate of 1.60% with a subscription multiple of 3.8722 times, while the second tranche had a coupon rate of 1.67% and a subscription multiple of 3.165 times. At the same time, the credit ratings of bonds issued by several brokers, including Northeast Securities, Great Wall Securities, Huaan Securities, and Zheshang Securities, have been upgraded from AA+ to AAA. Fitch also raised the long-term issuer default ratings of CICC and CICC International from BBB+ to A-. Analysts point out that this surge in bond issuance is not only about capital replenishment, but also serves as strategic capital support amid a wave of mergers and acquisitions. Leading institutions are using bond financing to pre-position M&A capital in advance, forming a chain of integration, bond issuance, and further expansion, while small and medium-sized brokers face increasing pressure from financing difficulties.