Still being snatched up despite a 20% premium, has the logic changed? Who is entering A-share private placements at high premiums? Which industries have high premiums?

Cailian Press, February 25 — (Reporter Feng Qijuan) “Discounted ticket acquisition and maturity arbitrage” was once the simplest survival rule in the A-share private placement market. But since the beginning of the year, more and more private placement projects have broken out of the traditional discount range and successfully issued at significantly high premiums. A batch of private placements with premium rates exceeding 20% is disrupting the inertia of “participate only if discounted.”

So, who is competing for private placements at high premiums? Clearly, this round of high-premium private placements is not driven by retail investors or single institutions alone; the core main force remains public funds. A diverse capital lineup—including private equity firms, securities firms and their asset management arms, insurance and insurance asset managers, foreign institutions, state-owned enterprises with central or national background, and prominent retail investors—is also participating.

This shift from “discount-only” to premium bidding indicates a change in the pricing logic of the private placement market. Investment in private placements is no longer solely about “how much discount,” but increasingly about the quality of the assets.

In fact, the market has already confirmed this trend. Earlier this year, Wang Hai, Deputy General Manager of Caitong Fund, stated at the annual strategy meeting that a fundamental transformation has already taken place in the private placement sector. The team’s understanding of private placements has evolved from initially focusing on institutional policy benefits to deepening in individual stock value, upgrading from multi-strategy exploration to asset restructuring, and moving from single investments to ecosystem construction. He emphasized that future focus should be on the participation rate of state-owned capital.

High premiums in private placements are not due to blind chasing of high prices. On the supply side, under the macro guidance of “new quality productivity,” high-quality private placement projects that align with policy directions, belong to high-growth sectors, and have clear expansion paths are relatively scarce. Meanwhile, the allocation directions of institutional funds across the market are highly convergent. When policies, industry, and capital resonate, buying frenzies and premiums emerge.

A Batch of High-Premium Private Placement Projects

Since the beginning of 2026, the most prominent feature of the A-share private placement market has been multiple projects issuing at high premiums, breaking the previous norm of “buying at a discount.” Several private placements have been quite popular.

Among projects where external investors successfully received allocations, the third-party measurement and testing agency Guangdian Measurement’s new round of private placement had a premium rate of 29.09%, raising a total of 1.3 billion yuan at an issue price of 24.01 yuan per share.

In terms of industry distribution, stocks in the automotive supply chain sector have seen particularly prominent new private placements with high premiums at the start of the year.

According to public information, Fengshen Co., Ltd., a leading domestic manufacturer of engineering machinery tires, raised 1.1 billion yuan in a new private placement, with an issue price of 6.85 yuan per share, at a premium ratio of 125% over the issuance floor price.

Jianghuai Automobile, a well-established vehicle manufacturer, issued a new private placement at a 23.93% premium, with an issue price of 49.88 yuan per share for 70.16 million shares, raising a total of 3.5 billion yuan. Additionally, BAIC Blue Valley, a new energy passenger vehicle company, raised 6 billion yuan in a new private placement with a premium rate of 15.77%.

In the auto parts and materials sector, Zhonggao Technology, a mid-to-high-end electronic-grade glass fiber product manufacturer, raised 995 million yuan in a new private placement with a premium rate of 23.15%. Deli Co., Ltd., an auto parts company, raised only 92.7 million yuan but achieved a premium rate of 22.91%.

Furthermore, power supply equipment company Magmet raised 2.663 billion yuan, with an issue price of 85.01 yuan per share and a premium rate of 21%. Salt mining company Suyuan Jing Shen also issued at an 18.22% premium.

Meanwhile, private placement projects in key areas such as new energy, new materials for chemicals, digital economy, and computing infrastructure—“new quality productivity”—are also generally recognized with market premiums.

Additionally, according to Choice data, the fund most involved in private placements this year is Caitong Fund, which has participated in 20 projects so far, with at least 15 at premiums and 3 at par.

Who Is Competing for Private Placements at High Premiums?

Who is participating in these high-premium private placements? Based on the allocation list, public funds are everywhere and are the most core participants.

Guangdian Measurement’s nearly 30% premium issuance attracted Caitong Fund, prominent retail investor Li Yiming, several national-level industry funds, and two Guangdong provincial state-owned capital-controlled private equity firms, all of whom received allocations.

In the latest private placement of BAIC Blue Valley, the largest single subscriber was E Fund, which received 2.2 billion yuan; Norfund and Caitong Fund received 383 million yuan and 169 million yuan respectively. Additionally, two retail investors, Sun Donghong and Liu Hui, as well as Guohua Life Insurance and Xinliyi Group’s joint venture Guohua Xingyi Asset Management, successfully received allocations.

Four public funds—Caitong Fund, Norfund, E Fund, and Dacheng Fund—two securities firm asset management companies—CITIC Securities Asset Management and Huatai Asset Management—and multiple central and state-owned enterprise industry capital, as well as retail investor Wang Zixu, all paid a 25% premium to participate in Fengshen Co.’s new private placement.

Besides Caitong and Norfund, two prominent retail investors, Wang Fujun and Liu Min, also appeared on the allocation list for Deli Co., Ltd.’s new private placement.

Retail investors have played a significant pioneering role in high-premium private placements, sometimes even becoming the largest subscribers in certain projects.

The highly watched Jianghuai Automobile’s new private placement was allocated to eight investors, with Ge Weidong and Fang Wenying each investing 1 billion yuan, receiving 20.0481 million shares each, making them the largest individual subscribers. Public information indicates Fang Wenying is the wife of retail investor Zhang Jianping.

Additionally, Guangfa Securities, Caitong Fund, Yao Zhichao, and three well-known private equity firms—Chun Chuan Investment, New Philosophy Investment, and Zhong Yue Capital—also received allocations. Chun Chuan Investment has close ties with Fang Wenying; Tianyancha shows it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Shenzhen Zhichun Enterprise Management Co., Ltd., which is held 10% by Zhang Jianping.

Beyond public and private funds, local state-owned capital, insurance asset management, foreign institutions, securities firms, and their asset management arms are also deeply involved.

In the new private placement of Zhonghe Technology, the allocation list includes two retail investors—Guo Weisong and Wang Zixu—two public funds—Caitong Fund and Norfund—two foreign institutions—J.P. Morgan and UBS AG—and two securities firm asset management companies—Huatai Securities Asset Management and Guoxin Securities (Hong Kong)—as well as GF Securities, Zhonghui Life Insurance, and Taikang Asset Management.

Zhonghui Life Insurance and UBS AG also participated at premiums in Magmet’s new private placement, along with four public funds—Caitong Fund, Norfund, Guotou Ruixin, and E Fund—and Huatai Asset Management.

Why Participate in Private Placements at High Premiums?

According to relevant announcements, since the beginning of the year, funds participating in private placements have been highly concentrated in key areas such as new energy vehicles, artificial intelligence, new materials, and high-end manufacturing. Against the backdrop of fierce competition in the new energy vehicle industry, high-end, intelligent, and lightweight solutions have become core strategic focuses for companies and key tracks for capital.

In terms of high-end and intelligent development, BAIC Blue Valley’s 6 billion yuan fundraising will be used for new energy vehicle development, AI intelligent platform, and autonomous driving electric systems; Jianghuai Automobile’s funds will all be used for high-end intelligent electric platforms, developing new platforms and leading smart electric architectures.

To align with trends in intelligence and lightweighting, Weishi Electronics raised 480 million yuan mainly for lightweight vehicle-mounted display components, using magnesium-aluminum alloys and other lightweight metals as core materials. As automotive intelligence advances, large screens, multi-screen setups, curved screens, and irregular-shaped displays are emerging, along with new technologies like Mini-LED and Micro-LED. Lightweighting remains a major policy focus in recent years.

Material upgrades are the most direct path to lightweighting. Changhua Chemical’s new private placement will raise funds for a CO2 ether project (Phase I). CO2 ether is a new green core raw material for polyurethane. Polyurethane materials meet automotive requirements for comfort, lightweighting, low odor, and low VOCs, making them essential in vehicle manufacturing.

Faced with the huge demand driven by continuous upgrades in construction, automotive, electronics, and photovoltaic markets, Yao Pi Glass will use the funds for energy-saving upgrades of its Dalian Yao Pi melting furnace, automation upgrades of its float glass production line, and coating process improvements in Tianjin.

The ongoing advancement of automotive intelligence relies heavily on computing power infrastructure and digital foundations. Not only the automotive industry but the entire wave of intelligent transformation has also spurred broader and deeper “new infrastructure” investments.

Zhongbei Communication’s total fundraising of 1.92 billion yuan will mainly be invested in building intelligent computing centers and 5G communication networks, representing an important layout in AI and a continuation of the company’s 5G new infrastructure business.

Shen Sanda’s fundraising will focus on cloud operation projects, distributed storage R&D, China Electronics Cloud R&D base Phase I, and high-tech industrial engineering services.

Soft Power’s three main business segments—software and digital technology services, computing products and smart electronics, and digital energy and intelligent computing services—will see funds invested in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei soft communication innovation manufacturing base, AIPC intelligent manufacturing base, and the Shou Tong Power Huailai intelligent computing center (Phase I), along with upgrades to computer manufacturing workshops.

Guangdian Measurement, leveraging integrated measurement and testing technology services, will use the funds for aerospace (including low-altitude) testing platforms, next-generation AI chip testing platforms, satellite internet quality assurance platforms (Chengdu and Guangzhou), data intelligent quality inspection platforms, and upgrades to Xi’an measurement laboratories.

Recent brokerage research reports align somewhat with these capital flows. For example, Dongwu Securities focuses on high-end electric vehicle stocks less sensitive to policy disruptions, such as Jianghuai Automobile, BAIC Blue Valley, Geely, and Great Wall Motors; Kaiyuan Securities remains optimistic about high-end and overseas expansion, highlighting Jianghuai’s leadership in ultra-luxury cars, and models like Wenjie and Zeekr 9X continuing to grow in the premium market, with strong prospects for Seres and Geely.

Dongwu Auto’s Huang Xili’s team in the “Smart Car 2026 Strategy Report: L4 RoboX Year of Explosion!” states that intelligentization is shifting from electric vehicle pricing to AI-based pricing. The common point of the 2026 AI-driven market is AI diffusion, but the differences are: 1) greater emphasis on AI logic deduction, with core capabilities advancing especially as top-tier players move toward L4; industry realization is strengthening. 2) more focus on software opportunities and B-end breakthroughs.