One year after the implementation of the "Eight Measures for the Science and Technology Innovation Board", the merger and acquisition transaction value on the Science and Technology Innovation Board has exceeded 140 billion yuan.
The "Eight Measures for the Science and Technology Innovation Board" (STAR Market), which focuses on the in - depth institutional reform of the STAR Market, has reached the important one - year mark since its release.
In June 2024, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) formulated and released the "Eight Measures for the STAR Market", proposing new reform measures in aspects such as issuance and listing, underwriting and pricing, refinancing, mergers and acquisitions, equity incentives, trading mechanisms, full - chain supervision, and creating a market ecosystem, marking an important step in promoting the in - depth implementation of the registration - based IPO system reform.
Over the past year since implementation, the reform measures of the "Eight Measures for the STAR Market" have basically been put into practice. For example, nearly 20 rules have been issued, including the high - rejection ratio for new - stock pricing, the recognition criteria for "light - asset, high - R & D investment" in refinancing, and regulations on the suspension and exemption of information disclosure; more than 100 equity acquisitions have been supported for disclosure, among which the number of major asset restructurings exceeds the total of the past five years; 13 new indices have been released, such as the STAR Market Composite Index, the STAR 200 Index, and the STAR Market Semiconductor Materials and Equipment Index; nearly 200 companies have announced share repurchase and increase plans, and 111 companies have announced interim dividends.
Just yesterday (June 18th), as the "Eight Measures for the STAR Market" was approaching its one - year anniversary, the regulatory authorities stepped up their efforts and introduced a "1 + 6" in - depth reform policy, aiming to better play the role of the STAR Market as a "testing ground" and further enhance the institutional inclusiveness and adaptability of the STAR Market for scientific and technological innovation and the development of new - quality productive forces.
The Wave of Mergers and Acquisitions Rises, with Transaction Amount Exceeding 140 Billion Yuan
Since the release of the "Eight Measures for the STAR Market", greater support has been provided for mergers and acquisitions, and the STAR Market's mergers and acquisitions market has delivered an outstanding performance.
The latest data shows that 106 new merger and acquisition transactions have been announced on the STAR Market, of which 60 have been successfully completed; the cumulative transaction amount has exceeded 140 billion yuan. Since the beginning of 2025, the M & A activity on the STAR Market has continued to climb, with 45 new transactions disclosed, among which 20 are major cash restructurings or acquisitions of assets through the issuance of shares or convertible bonds. The number of such major transactions has far exceeded the total number in the five - year period from 2019 to 2023.
A series of innovative cases with benchmark significance have been implemented one after another - the STAR Market has witnessed breakthrough transactions such as the first directional convertible bond restructuring, the first "A - controlled H", the first "A - acquires H", the first "H - controlled A", the first full - tender offer, and the first absorption and merger. Meanwhile, the market - oriented designs such as asset valuation models, transaction pricing mechanisms, and performance commitment plans have continued to evolve, forming a diversified sample of institutional innovation practices.
As a typical "A - acquires A" case after the "Eight Measures for the STAR Market", Hygon Information plans to absorb and merge Sugon through a share - swap transaction, with an estimated transaction scale of over 100 billion yuan. Some industry insiders believe that this capital operation was launched in a timely manner under the favorable policies, conforms to the regulatory support direction, and is also conducive to promoting the two companies to leverage their complementary advantages in technology reserves and product R & D, seize market opportunities, increase market share, and consolidate their dominant positions in the industry transformation.
The "Eight Measures for the STAR Market" clearly support the acquisition of high - quality unprofitable "hard - tech" enterprises, breaking the rigid requirement of traditional M & A for the profitability of the target. Since the implementation of the policy, 28 transactions on the STAR Market have involved the acquisition of unprofitable targets. Typical cases include RIGOL Technologies' acquisition of NAI Digital Electronics with an evaluation appreciation rate of over 900%, and Silead's issuance of directional convertible bonds to acquire the unprofitable Chuangxin Microelectronics.
The "Eight Measures for the STAR Market" point out that payment tools should be further enriched, and the comprehensive use of shares, cash, directional convertible bonds, etc. for mergers and acquisitions should be encouraged, and the installment payment of share consideration should be studied. In the past year, a number of innovative and exemplary M & A cases have emerged on the STAR Market.
Huahaichengke's acquisition of semiconductor materials enterprise Hengsuohuawi is one of the typical diversified transaction cases. In November 2024, Huahaichengke acquired a 30% stake in Hengsuohuawi for 480 million yuan in cash. In March 2025, it used a combination of "shares + convertible bonds + cash" to pay the consideration for the remaining 70% stake, among which the scale of directional convertible bonds reached 480 million yuan, accounting for 42.9% of the total transaction amount.
From a geographical perspective, STAR Market companies have also actively attempted cross - border M & A. According to statistics, 15 cross - border M & A cases have emerged on the STAR Market after the implementation of the "Eight Measures for the STAR Market". MicroPort Endovascular's acquisition of a 72.37% stake in Dutch company OMD for 65 million US dollars has become a highly - watched overseas acquisition case in the pharmaceutical industry. MicroPort Endovascular said that through this transaction, OMD will become its wholly - owned subsidiary, which will help further consolidate the company's leading position in aortic intervention medical devices and is in line with the company's strategic layout in the field of aortic intervention medical devices.
Nearly 500 Companies Launch Equity Incentives, and 371 Companies Pay Dividends
The industry believes that with the support of the "Eight Measures for the STAR Market", the three measures of equity incentives, dividends, and share repurchases of STAR Market companies form a closed - loop. Repurchased shares can be used for incentives and are exempted from dividend requirements. The dividend exemption can also support R & D investment, thus forming a positive cycle.
According to the statistics of Cailian Press Xingkuang Data, from the release of the "Eight Measures for the STAR Market" to June 16, 2025, nearly 500 STAR Market companies have launched nearly 800 equity incentive plans in total (including plans implemented over different periods in the past few years), with a coverage rate of over 70% in the sector, covering directors, senior executives, core technical personnel, and core business personnel.
Among them, in terms of the accuracy and flexibility emphasized by the policy, most companies have formulated differentiated plans that suit their own development stages.
Taking the 2025 incentive plan of Espressif Systems as an example, 192 incentive recipients account for 24.94% of the total number of employees, especially including core technical personnel from Russia and India. Similarly, United Imaging Healthcare, which also has an international team, clearly includes talents from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and foreign countries in the scope of the incentive plan.
In terms of profit distribution and market maintenance, 2024 was a big year for dividends on the STAR Market. From the statistical data, in the three dividend cycles since the implementation of the "Eight Measures for the STAR Market" (i.e., the semi - annual report in 2024, the third - quarter report in 2024, and the annual report in 2024), 371 companies implemented dividend distribution and bonus share issues, with a total cash dividend of 38.9 billion yuan. Over 60% of the companies achieved dividends twice, and some companies completed dividends three times. During the same period, 175 companies announced share repurchase plans, involving an amount of 7.3 billion yuan; over 80 enterprises carried out operations through the "special loan for share increase and repurchase", with a total upper - limit amount of nearly 9 billion yuan.
Companies such as Transsion Holdings, CRRC Times Electric, China Railway Signal & Communication, Ninebot, and Sany Heavy Energy have continued their tradition of high dividends and become the top five "dividend giants" with the highest cash dividend amounts in 2024, highlighting the importance that high - tech enterprises attach to rewarding investors.
Approximately 24.8 Billion Yuan in Refinancing Supports the Continuous R & D of Hard - Tech Enterprises
To implement the requirements in the "Eight Measures for the STAR Market", the Shanghai Stock Exchange formulated and released the "Guidelines for the Application of the Review Rules for Issuance and Listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange No. 6 - Recognition Criteria for Light - Asset, High - R & D Investment Enterprises (Trial)" in October 2024, refining the recognition criteria for "light - asset, high - R & D investment" enterprises and encouraging STAR Market companies to increase their R & D efforts.
According to statistics, in 2024, the total R & D investment of the STAR Market for the whole year reached 168.078 billion yuan, more than 2.5 times the net profit, with a year - on - year increase of 6.4%, and the compound growth rate in the past three years reached 10.7%. The median ratio of R & D investment to operating income reached 12.6%, continuously leading all sectors of the A - share market. Among them, 107 companies had an R & D intensity of over 20% for three consecutive years.
Since the release of the trial standards for "light - asset, high - R & D investment", as of now, 9 STAR Market enterprises that meet the standards, including Cambricon, Dizal Pharmaceutical, Synopsys China, ACM Research, Zhongke Feice, Baili Tianheng, Huafeng Measurement & Control, Espressif Systems, and Zhongke Xingtu, have applied for refinancing according to the recognition criteria for "light - asset, high - R & D investment", with a total planned financing of 24.796 billion yuan.
According to the statistics of a reporter from the STAR Market Daily, as of now, there are a total of 588 listed companies on the STAR Market, among which about 40% of the enterprises have an average R & D investment as a proportion of revenue of over 15% in the past three years; and currently, about 98% of the STAR Market enterprises have a proportion of R & D personnel of no less than 10%.
A senior investment banker told a reporter from the STAR Market Daily that the main purpose of the recognition of "light - asset, high - R & D investment" is to improve the efficiency and flexibility of the use of refinancing funds by enterprises, allowing enterprises to raise funds according to the actual investment needs and avoid the waste of innovation resources, thus promoting the market's support for high - tech industries.
Ranked by the proportion of R & D investment in the past three years, in terms of R & D intensity, enterprises in the biomedicine and semiconductor fields continue to lead. Although enterprises in these fields are generally in the early stages of technology R & D or commercialization and have not yet achieved profitability. However, with the dual support of policy dividends and long - term capital, a number of key technologies have been accelerating their implementation since 2024.
As a typical case, Aihua Biopharma achieved an operating income of 201 million yuan and reached the break - even point in its first full - year commercialization in 2024. With an R & D investment of 311 million yuan in 2024, the company's APL - 1702 project has completed the first - round technical review by the National Medical Products Administration, and at the same time, reached a consensus with the FDA on the Phase III clinical trial design for the US market; Zhixiang Jintai promoted the approval and listing of Seliciguang Monoclonal Antibody Injection with an R & D investment of 610 million yuan, officially kicking off the commercialization process, and currently, the multi - pipeline R & D is progressing in an orderly manner.
This article is from the WeChat official account "STAR Market Daily", author: Chen Junqing, published by 36Kr with authorization.