In the A-share market, major shareholders' reduction channels see "one decline, two rises".

Shanghai Securities News reporters Guo Chenglin and Gao Zhigang

Based on the latest statistical analysis, Shanghai Securities News reporters have found that in the A-share market, major shareholders’ share-reduction channels are showing a “one decrease and two increases” trend: the scale of negotiated transfer transactions—once the main exit route—has shrunk sharply, while block trades and inquiry-based transfers with better marketization and transparency have risen rapidly.

According to reporters’ statistics, as of June 30, 2026, the cumulative amount of share reductions by major shareholders in the A-share market this year totaled RMB 489.447 trillion. Compared with the same period last year: the share of negotiated transfer transactions fell from 51.56% to 24.45%; the share of block trades rose from 17.79% to 20.63%, up 51.35% year on year; and the share of inquiry-based transfers increased from 5% to 11.83%, up 209% year on year.

Yi Zhi, a professor of finance at Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, believes that in the future, A-share major shareholders’ share reductions may gradually form a new pattern with inquiry-based transfers and block trades as the main focus, negotiated transfers as a supplement, and competitive bidding as an additional option.

Significant growth in inquiry-based transfers and block trades

Constrained by the rules for share reductions via centralized bidding, inquiry-based transfers and block trades have remained active in the A-share market in recent years, gradually becoming important compliant channels for shareholders such as controlling shareholders and actual controllers to reduce their holdings.

Wind data shows: as of the end of June, there were 70 inquiry-based transfer deals completed in total this year for the STAR Market and ChiNext, up 25% year on year; 63 listed companies were involved, up 16.67% year on year; and the total transaction amount reached RMB 57.922 billion, up 209% year on year. Among them, companies including Ruili Technology, Jiangbo Long, and Co-creation Data each saw inquiry-based transfer amounts exceeding RMB 1 billion per single transaction, while CATL ranked first with more than RMB 20 billion.

In April this year, CATL’s shareholder, Ningbo United Innovation New Energy Investment Management Partnership (Limited Partnership), disposed of 58 million shares via inquiry-based transfer at a transfer price of 410.34 yuan per share. The actual transaction value was approximately RMB 23.8 billion, making it a benchmark case for large-scale inquiry-based transfers.

“The sharp rise in the transaction scale of inquiry-based transfers is the result of multiple factors converging—policy dividends, market demand, and risk-control advantages. It is also the most direct manifestation of the A-share market’s market-oriented and standardized reform of share reductions,” Yi Zhi said.

Specifically, inquiry-based transfers have four major advantages: first, the system design is efficient and convenient—no less than a 1% transfer ratio, and no upper limit on transaction scale, with a simplified information disclosure process; second, the market’s shock-absorbing advantage is prominent—an inquiry-based transfer is limited to professional institutional investors, and the market-based inquiry and pricing method combined with a 6-month lock-up period effectively prevents sharp stock-price volatility caused by concentrated selling; third, regulators continue to expand the scope of application; and fourth, the entire process is publicly disclosed and transparent, with standardized procedures, effectively avoiding illegal operations such as “bridge reductions” and “detouring reductions.”

Block trades have also grown substantially. In total, 1,168 block trades were completed this year, up 12.74% year on year; the transaction amount was RMB 100.96 billion, up 51.35% year on year; and its share of total share reductions rose to 20.63%, an increase of 3 percentage points compared with the same period last year, making it another increasingly important share-reduction channel.

In sharp contrast, the market share of negotiated transfers has continued to decline. Yi Zhi believes that the main reasons behind this trend are stricter regulation and the inherent drawbacks of negotiated transfers themselves.

For a long time, negotiated transfers have occurred off-exchange, so the transparency of information disclosure has been relatively insufficient, and pricing lacks adequate market-based benchmarks. As a result, they have often become tools for covert arbitrage, thereby harming the interests of minority shareholders.

Taking the most representative “change of control” transactions as an example, cases where A-share listed companies achieved changes in control through negotiated transfers or “negotiated transfer + voting rights entrustment” have fallen significantly this year. Data shows that as of June 30, 47 companies had completed or were in the process of completing changes in control this year, down clearly from 62 in the same period last year.

Against the backdrop of regulators closing loopholes and the rapid replacement by standardized channels such as inquiry-based transfers and block trades, negotiated transfers will bid farewell to their previous dominant position, and the industry landscape will undergo profound restructuring.

Regulators crack down on illegal share reductions

Although regulatory efforts are increasing, in recent years there have still been instances of shareholders of listed companies reducing holdings in violation of rules, and they have been punished.

According to the reporters’ incomplete statistics, in the first half of this year, about 20 A-share listed companies’ relevant entities were filed for investigation or received administrative penalties for reduction violations, and as many as 7 companies received penalty notices in May alone, including Huachuang Yunxin and Sihui Fushi.

Sihui Fushi is a typical case. On May 19, the Guangdong Securities Regulatory Bureau issued warning letters to the company’s shareholders, Sihui Mingcheng and Sihui Tiancheng. After investigation, the above shareholders had two violations: first, failing to timely disclose changes in interests and stopping trading; second, reducing holdings beyond the allowed proportion.

Moreover, this year has also seen four cases of illegal share reductions caused by “mistakes” by major shareholders. For example, Ankao Zhidiann recently announced that the company’s actual controller reduced 721,800 shares via block trades. Due to the operator’s mistake in placing orders, an additional 68,000 shares were executed, and the transaction amount for the excess portion was approximately RMB 4.41 million.

What is worth deep reflection is that while the repeated occurrence of illegal share reductions is partly due to the weak compliance awareness of relevant parties, the deeper “root cause” points to structural loopholes in the old share-reduction ecosystem.

On April 17 this year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission publicly solicited comments on the “Administrative Penalty Implementation Rules for Illegal Securities Transfer Cases (Draft for Comments).” It subdivided illegal securities transfer conduct into three major categories and four minor categories, and set differentiated penalty tiers based on the proportion of illegal transfers and the amount involved. Among them, in cases where the proportion of illegal transfer exceeds 5% and the amount exceeds RMB 5 billion, heavier penalties will apply.

Therefore, the deep reshaping of the A-share share-reduction landscape is not only a simple iteration of trading instruments; more importantly, it involves a systematic reshaping of the market’s major-shareholder ecosystem and exit order.