The first domestic commercial rocket company will change its ownership.

The overall valuation of CASC Rocket is approximately 11.2 billion yuan. After the transaction is completed, this leading commercial space enterprise incubated by a central state - owned enterprise will lose its "CASC" identity.

China's first commercial rocket company is about to change its owner. Information from the Beijing Equity Exchange shows that 29.5904% of the equity of CASC Rocket Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "CASC Rocket") is being listed for transfer at a reserve price of approximately 3.299 billion yuan. The transferor is its controlling shareholder, China Aerospace Sanjiang Group Co., Ltd.

Based on this calculation, the overall valuation of CASC Rocket is approximately 11.2 billion yuan. After the transaction is completed, this commercial space enterprise incubated by a central state - owned enterprise will lose its "CASC" identity.

It is reported that CASC Rocket was established in 2016 and is China's first rocket company to carry out R & D and application using a commercial model, with a registered capital of approximately 859 million yuan. Before this transfer, Aerospace Sanjiang Group (a wholly - owned subsidiary of CASC) held 56.43% of the equity in CASC Rocket. After the transfer of 29.5904% of the shares, its shareholding ratio will drop to 26.84%, and the controlling stake will be transferred accordingly.

At the beginning of its establishment, CASC Rocket was a pilot project of a central state - owned enterprise by CASC to introduce social capital. Previously, no enterprise had "rocket launch" as its business scope, and it was only allowed to register after being approved by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. The controlling shareholder, CASC, is a backbone force in China's defense science and technology industry, undertaking the research, development and production of China's aerospace defense equipment, laser equipment and launch vehicles.

Data from Cailian Press Venture Capital Connect - Zhizhong shows that since its establishment, CASC Rocket has only completed two rounds of financing in December 2017 and June 2022 respectively, but the financing scales were quite substantial. In the Series A financing in 2017, the amount was 1.2 billion yuan, attracting a series of state - owned investment institutions such as Shenzhen Capital Group, Aerospace Asset Management and CRRC Capital. In the Series B financing in 2022, the scale further increased to 1.585 billion yuan, with participation from the National Military - Civilian Integration Industry Investment Fund, CICC Capital and others.

Public information shows that the products regularly launched by CASC Rocket mainly include two types of solid - propellant launch vehicles, the Kuaizhou - 1A and the Kuaizhou - 11. The Kuaizhou - 1A is a small solid - propellant launch vehicle, mainly providing launch services for low - orbit small satellites weighing about 300 kilograms. The Kuaizhou - 11 has a carrying capacity of 1 ton in the sun - synchronous orbit and 1.5 tons in the low - Earth orbit.

In 2025, the company completed three successful launch missions. Among them, the Kuaizhou - 1A has carried out 29 flights in total, and the Kuaizhou - 11 has completed 4 flights. Based on this calculation, CASC Rocket has now become the enterprise with the most successful commercial space launches in China.

However, the company's financial performance is not optimistic. Data shows that CASC Rocket has been in a state of continuous losses: in 2024, its revenue was 63.8078 million yuan, with a net loss of 180 million yuan; in the first 11 months of 2025, the revenue was 67.3565 million yuan, and the net loss narrowed to approximately 136 million yuan. As of the end of November 2025, the company's total assets were approximately 3.033 billion yuan, and its liabilities were 472 million yuan.

In this sale, CASC has also set some requirements. For example, this project does not accept joint transferees, and the name of the new target enterprise shall no longer use the words "CASC", nor shall it continue to use intangible assets such as CASC's trade name and qualifications for business operations.

This means that a single buyer is required to complete this transaction worth more than 3 billion yuan.

A reporter from the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily noticed that there are many rumors in the market pointing the buyer to Sichuan state - owned assets. In September 2025, an announcement was posted on the National Public Resources Trading Platform (Sichuan Province), stating that Sichuan Science and Technology Innovation Investment Co., Ltd., due to the actual needs of its business operations, now needs to select a financial advisor intermediary to provide financial advisory services for the merger and acquisition of a commercial rocket launch project.

Sichuan is an important strategic base for China's aerospace industry and is the only province in China that can complete the entire process from rocket R & D, manufacturing to launch within the province. It has built a complete industrial chain ecosystem of "satellites, rockets, launches and applications". In 2024, the Chengdu - Deyang - Mianyang - Zigong - Liangshan aerospace cluster was short - listed in the list of national advanced manufacturing clusters by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and it was the first cluster to be included with the theme of "aerospace".

In April 2025, Sichuan clearly stated in the "Action Plan for the High - quality Development of the Commercial Aerospace Industry in Sichuan Province (2025 - 2030)" that by 2030, the scale of the provincial aerospace industry should exceed 100 billion yuan, and key recruitment should be carried out around leading enterprises in the fields of satellite and rocket R & D and manufacturing.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily", author: Yu Shiqi, published by 36Kr with authorization.