Seize Opportunities: M&A Sets Sail

**Lowering reserve requirements and interest rates, reducing existing housing loan interest rates, pioneering monetary tools to support the development of the stock market, and the official release of the "M&A Six Articles"... This year's "Golden September and Silver October" have seen a flurry of incremental policies, demonstrating the Party Central Committee's firm attitude in fully promoting the development of the economy and the capital market.**

On October 16th, the "Seizing Opportunities and Setting Sail on M&A" Zhejiang Province Listed Companies M&A Restructuring Promotion Conference was held in Hangzhou. The conference aimed to interpret and publicize new policies, enhance confidence in the M&A market, create a Zhejiang model that promotes enterprise transformation and upgrading through M&A restructuring, and fully start a new journey of M&A restructuring for listed companies in Zhejiang Province.

At the conference, a ceremony was held to award the "Enterprise Listing and M&A Financial Advisory Studio" plaque, and the "M&A Ecological Platform" and the "High-Quality M&A Restructuring to Accelerate the Development of New Quality Productive Forces" initiative were released. The conference called on all parties to raise their positions, respond to the call of the Party and the state, understand and implement policies well; start from the social value dimension, focus on promoting and supporting M&A projects that have a positive benefit to economic and social development; establish a customer-centered collaborative promotion mechanism, integrate various advantages and strengths, and promote listed companies to fully enjoy the dividends of new policies, becoming the main voice and advocate of the bright economic theory.

**The continuous release of policy dividends ushers in a "window period" for the development of M&A restructuring.**

From the perspective of the M&A field, the current policy level is continuously increasing, with the central government clearly proposing to "strongly guide medium and long-term funds into the market" and "support listed companies' M&A restructuring"; on September 24th, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) released the "M&A Six Articles"; Zhejiang also clearly proposed "to promote the development and growth of technology-based enterprises with long-term capital and patient capital."

M&A restructuring has become an important means for the high-quality development of listed companies in Zhejiang Province. Data shows that over the past six years, on average, more than 280 listed companies in Zhejiang Province have carried out M&A restructuring activities each year, with transaction amounts exceeding 100 billion yuan. Pan Guang'en, Deputy Director of the Financial Office of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee and Deputy Director of the Provincial Local Financial Management Bureau, pointed out that at present, the operation and development of the M&A restructuring market of listed companies in Zhejiang Province fully reflect the characteristics of industrial M&A, innovation orientation, and the cultivation of new quality productive forces. Faced with new policy opportunities, he proposed three suggestions: First, financial institutions should improve their political position, deeply understand the current capital market policies, and play a leading role and the supporting role of financial advisors to achieve actual results; second, listed companies should take the initiative, seize historical opportunities, and actively carry out high-quality M&A; third, capital market intermediaries should be diligent and fulfill their duties, striving to be the guardians of the capital market, with better professional capabilities and professional ethics to protect and assist listed companies in Zhejiang in carrying out high-quality M&A, and make Zhejiang a model for high-quality operation and legal and compliant business operations in China and even the world's capital market.

At the conference, Lu Jianqiang, President of the Zhejiang Province Listing and M&A Association (hereinafter referred to as the "Association"), Secretary of the Party Committee, and Chairman of Zheshang Bank, stated that recent policy and market benefits have concentrated, presenting a combination of unprecedented important opportunities. Each M&A participant should improve their cognition, seize opportunities, and do more significant, good, and difficult things during the opportunity period; grasp the overall trend, ride the momentum, and sing the bright economic theory of China with high-quality M&A; be pragmatic and focused, implement precise policies, and work together to make Zhejiang a pioneer in M&A restructuring.

"At present, M&A has become an important engine for high-quality economic development and has gradually shown three major characteristics. First, the M&A demand of market entities continues to emerge; second, the science and technology innovation sector has become the main field of M&A; third, cross-border M&A has ushered in a window period." Lu Jianqiang further analyzed that the financial industry is currently facing two major changes, "financial positioning" and "digitalization". In the process of promoting and implementing M&A, it is necessary to deeply understand the three characteristics of the M&A market and the two major changes in finance, grasp the laws of historical development, and truly make M&A an important force in promoting high-quality economic development.

Lu Jianqiang also pointed out that with the strong support of the provincial party committee and the provincial government, Zhejiang's M&A market has always shown significant activity. As the first provincial-level M&A service platform in the country, the Association should give full play to its role as a link, closely coordinate with financial institutions and listed companies, and other entities to help Zhejiang become a pioneer in the domestic M&A restructuring market; financial institutions should adhere to the concept of good finance, provide customer-centered comprehensive service solutions, and as the president unit, Zheshang Bank should lead the way and truly be a pioneer in policy implementation; listed companies should carefully plan and layout in advance, and promote the high-quality development of enterprises with high-quality M&A.

**Leveraging the "1+N" synergy to provide comprehensive financial services centered on customers.**At the meeting, the "Corporate Listing and M&A Financial Advisory Studio" was officially announced to be established. The studio will adopt various forms such as policy advocacy, thematic training, M&A consulting, resource docking, and research visits to delve into the frontline, address practical issues, and better assist listed companies in carrying out merger and reorganization work.

It is reported that the studio has gathered experts and senior financial advisors with profound professional backgrounds and rich practical experience in the fields of corporate listing, mergers and acquisitions, and bankruptcy restructuring. It will fully leverage the advantages of the "1+N" comprehensive financial service mechanism of financial advisors to provide governments, enterprises, and related institutions with comprehensive, accurate, and personalized one-stop listing and M&A financial services.

In addition, the "M&A Ecological Platform" equipped with a digital intelligent system for mergers and acquisitions was officially released at the meeting. Gong Xiaolin, the Executive Chairman and Secretary-General of the Zhejiang Listing and M&A Federation, introduced that the platform has data resource libraries such as a financial advisory library for mergers and acquisitions, and a core enterprise library. It can achieve functions such as the release of M&A needs, opportunity discovery, and transaction creation, and can provide services such as transaction matchmaking, recommendation of due diligence institutions, transaction negotiation, and plan design. It promotes in-depth linkage between investment institutions and listed companies, and fully assists in facilitating a number of M&A transactions with industry influence.

Analysts believe that the establishment of the "Corporate Listing and M&A Financial Advisory Studio" and the release of the "M&A Ecological Platform" reflect the shift of financial services from a product-centered approach to a customer-centered one, and from product finance to scenario finance and chain finance. Subsequently, the financial advisory team will strengthen its connection with local development and reform, economic and information, science and technology, and other departments, organize M&A experts to enter enterprises, accurately advocate the latest policies and related services of financial institutions, and convey confidence to listed companies. At the same time, it will provide companion support for good enterprises that meet the "Zhejiang Silver Good Standard" to carry out industrial mergers and acquisitions, and meet the comprehensive financial service needs of enterprises.

Creating an "M&A Ecological Circle" to empower enterprise development with digital means

Faced with the "digital" transformation of the financial industry, Zheshang Bank is committed to promoting comprehensive and collaborative reforms centered on customers, and vigorously developing digital finance and chain ecological finance centered on computing power. At the meeting, Zheshang Bank introduced M&A financial services and products, among which the M&A transaction ecological platform based on multi-dimensional data analysis functions - "CZ Intelligent Investment" attracted attention.

It is understood that "CZ Intelligent Investment" fully combines the business scenarios of mergers and acquisitions, and can provide a full range of financial services in equity, debt, loans, professional consulting, etc. At the same time, it can rely on the "four industries" data of the value asset library, core enterprise library, investor library, and industry expert library to conduct value analysis of projects, and recommend mergers and acquisitions parties and targets based on this, forming a "1+N" matchmaking service centered on buyers and sellers.

"Subsequently, we will also summarize and form a '3+3+N' service model for 'listed companies, shareholders, executives' as three types of entities, and 'industrial development, wealth and asset management' as three types of needs. We will form classic cases and replicate and promote them, to take practical actions to help our province's mergers and acquisitions achieve leapfrog development, and contribute wisdom and strength to the accelerated development of new quality productive forces in Zhejiang and even the whole country." The person in charge of the investment banking headquarters of Zheshang Bank introduced.