Recently, cross-border M&A of listed companies has set off another upsurge. From the perspective of M&A targets, cross-border M&A of listed companies presents a phenomenon of 'getting together'. Different from the previous preference for liquor, games and other industries, new energy fields and high-end manufacturing fields have become new directions for cross-border mergers and acquisitions of listed companies.

Experts pointed out that the phenomenon of cross-border M&A should be analyzed in detail, and investors need to be vigilant and in-depth to identify. They should not blindly pursue cross-border M&A to cater to market hotspots.

Cross-border mergers and acquisitions of listed companies occur frequently.

Since the beginning of this year, mergers and acquisitions of A-share listed companies have appeared constantly. Straight Flush data shows that as of press release on August 17th, a total of 1,943 A-share listed companies issued relevant announcements during the year, involving 2,959 M&A cases.

In order to cultivate new growth points, many listed companies choose to cross-border layout of new industries, but the new industrial direction is often too different from the main business, thus becoming the focus of the market. On the evening of August 16th, Huangshi Group Company, a well-known dairy company, announced the stock price change, saying that at present, the company and its subsidiaries are negotiating three photovoltaic projects, but the cooperation intention is in the stage of communication and negotiation, which is uncertain.

On the evening of August 15th, Huamin Co., Ltd., a manufacturer of wear-resistant materials, announced that the company planned to use its own funds of 56 million yuan to acquire 80.00% equity of Hongxin Technology held by Jianhongda Group. The announcement shows that Hongxin Technology is a professional manufacturer of monocrystalline silicon rods and monocrystalline silicon wafers in the upstream of photovoltaic industry chain. On July 31st, Lvkang Biochemical, a veterinary drug enterprise, announced that it planned to purchase 100% equity of Jiangxi Weike New Material Technology Co., Ltd. so as to cut into the photovoltaic industry.

Fu Lichun, an economist and founding partner of Yuntai Capital, pointed out that mergers and acquisitions have positive significance for the healthy development of the capital market. Many companies have made new layouts for diversified development, which is reasonable and feasible under the existing laws, regulations and policies.

New energy and high-end manufacturing fields have become hot

From the perspective of industries where listed companies choose to cross borders, there are many traditional industries such as real estate, consumption and environmental protection, as well as emerging fields such as medicine, biology, mechanical equipment and electronics. From the perspective of M&A targets, different from the previous industries, such as liquor and games, new energy fields such as lithium battery, wind power generation and energy storage, and high-end manufacturing fields such as robots and semiconductors have become the main cross-border M&A directions of listed companies.

Among them, cross-border M&A of listed companies in photovoltaic field is a hot spot recently. In addition to Huamin shares and Huangshi Group's cross-border layout of photovoltaic fields, nearly 20 enterprises such as Mubang Hi-Tech, Jiangsu Sunshine, Blu-ray Development and Lvkang Biochemical are planning to cross-border photovoltaic fields this year.

The field of lithium battery is also a hot cross-border field for listed companies. According to the reporter's incomplete statistics, including Fuan shares, Tianyu Ecology, Weiming Environmental Protection, GCL Energy, etc., nearly 30 listed companies have laid out the lithium battery industry across borders this year. Among them, there are many high premium cross-border mergers and acquisitions. For example, the value-added rate of the cross-border mergers and acquisitions of Fuan shares reached 1146.21%.

High-end manufacturing fields such as semiconductors and robots are also the main direction of cross-border mergers and acquisitions this year. For example, high-tech development, the leading construction company, plans to merge and integrate power semiconductor enterprises Senwei Technology and Xinwei Semiconductor, thus entering the power semiconductor industry. Companies such as Shanghuangting International, a real estate company, and Robotec, a photovoltaic cell equipment provider, have also chosen the cross-border semiconductor industry.

For the purpose of cross-border M&A, most companies say that it is to promote the strategic development of the company, broaden the business layout, enrich the product lines, and at the same time create future profit growth points and enhance the sustainable development capability.

The regulatory authorities take precautions against hot speculation

From the hot areas of cross-border layout of listed companies, related concept stocks often fluctuate abnormally in a short period of time, including some listed companies that disclose cross-border mergers and acquisitions. For example, after Mubang Hi-Tech, an entertainment company, announced its cross-border entry into the photovoltaic field, straight flush data showed that the company's share price has increased by more than 70% since July 26th. After the disclosure of cross-border entry into the lithium battery industry, *ST's future share price has continuously gained more than 10 daily limit boards, with a cumulative increase of over 90% so far. After the veterinary drug company Lvkang Biochemical announced that it would acquire a loss-making photovoltaic enterprise, its share price ushered in five consecutive daily limit.

In April this year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission once said that in recent years, some listed companies have violated the economic laws, blindly set up stalls, set up projects, and invested indiscriminately. Their businesses are numerous but not sophisticated, and their scale is large but not strong. Because of excessive diversification and financialization, some of them are faced with greater risks, which bring adverse effects to shareholders' interests and market stability. The CSRC will continue to improve the rules of the capital market system, guide listed companies to focus on their main business and develop steadily, and strive to improve the efficiency and benefit of development. For those who unilaterally pursue diversified development, strictly supervise their mergers and acquisitions and financing behavior.

At the level of exchange, the cross-border M&A of listed companies should also be paid attention to, especially to prevent listed companies from speculating hot spots by disclosing cross-border M&A news. On August 16th, Mubang Hi-Tech received an inquiry letter from the Shanghai Stock Exchange, which asked the company to disclose the reasons for the termination of the previous investment framework agreement for photovoltaic cell projects, and to check whether there was any exaggeration of the project scale to mislead investors, and whether there was any use of the non-binding large investment framework agreement to cater to market hotspots and cooperate with the speculation of stock prices. On August 10th, *ST also received an inquiry letter from the Shanghai Stock Exchange in the future, asking the company to explain the relevant layout in the lithium field and whether there is any situation that caters to the hot spot speculation.

In addition, due to cross-border M&A events, a number of listed companies, such as Lvkang Biochemical, Fengfan, Zhengbang Technology and Huiyun Titanium, have received inquiries or letters of concern from the exchange. At the same time, many listed companies have been stopped across borders, such as the cross-border mergers and acquisitions of Lvkang Biochemical and the cross-border march of Hongbo shares in the field of sweeping robots.

Dong Dengxin, director of the Institute of Financial Securities of Wuhan University of Science and Technology, believes that the phenomenon of cross-border M&A should be analyzed concretely. 'Listed companies have financing facilities. For competent listed companies, if there is value through cross-border mergers and acquisitions, they should be encouraged. But if some companies just want to show and attract attention, it's best not to waste manpower, material resources and financial resources. '

Fu Lichun also pointed out that cross-border mergers and acquisitions of listed companies cannot be generalized. Both regulators and investors should pay enough attention to and be cautious about the cross-border behaviors concentrated in a certain field. At the regulatory level, efforts should be made to promote the construction of a healthy and orderly M&A market. For investors, we should not blindly pursue cross-border mergers and acquisitions, but we should be vigilant and conduct comprehensive screening from all angles of M&A transactions.