China’s State Administration for Market Regulation completed 528 merger reviews in the first three quarters of 2025.
China’s market regulator completed 528 merger reviews in the first three quarters of 2025, a 15.8 percent year-on-year increase, underscoring its continued push for more efficient reviews.
According to a report released Friday, the State Administration for Market Regulation, or SAMR, unconditionally approved 514 cases from January to September, attached conditions to four and blocked one deal. Nine cases were withdrawn after being accepted for review.
The majority of reviews were concluded within the 30-day preliminary review period, and 457 cases — nearly 89 percent — were handled under the simplified procedure to boost the efficiency of merger reviews.
This trend aligns with SAMR’s formalization in August of a pilot program that entrusts the review of simple cases to five provincial-level agencies. The initiative, launched in August 2022, empowers provincial branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangdong and Shaanxi to review merger deals that fall under the simplified procedure.
Manufacturing remained the most active sector with 182 deals — about 35.4 percent of all approvals — driven by strong merger activity in automotive, chemical, general-equipment and computer-related industries.
The trend reflects the government’s focus on developing “new quality productive forces,” SAMR said.
Other sectors with high merger activity included utilities, finance, transport, wholesale and retail, information-technology services, leasing and business services, and real estate.
The total value of transactions approved without conditions exceeded 2.05 trillion yuan ($288 billion), with 47 deals valued at more than 10 billion yuan each.
Domestic transactions remained dominant, with 308 cases — nearly 60 percent of the total — involving Chinese companies. Cross-border deals between foreign companies accounted for 137 cases, while 69 involved both domestic and foreign entities.
Source: MLex
