Stock Price Surges 201%! 63.5 Billion Acquisition Creates New "Aluminum King" on A-Shares, Hongqiao Holding Earned Over 17 Billion Last Year

Source: Times Finance Author: Gao Qiurong

Image source: TuChong Creative

A historic merger worth 63.5 billion yuan has been completed, and the market value of the new “Aluminum King” of A-shares, Hongqiao Holdings (002379.SZ), which exceeds 350 billion yuan, earned over 17 billion yuan last year.

After market close on March 20, Hongqiao Holdings disclosed its 2025 annual report, showing that last year the company achieved operating revenue of 156.721 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.25%; net profit attributable to shareholders was 17.864 billion yuan, up 3.69% year-on-year.

In its previous earnings forecast, Hongqiao Holdings stated that during the reporting period, the company implemented a major asset restructuring, which was completed by December 31, 2025, including asset transfer and changes in business registration. Shandong Hongtuo Industrial Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Hongtuo Industrial”) was included in the company’s consolidated financial statements.

At the end of 2024, Hongqiao Holdings announced plans to issue shares to purchase assets, specifically the entire 100% equity of Hongtuo Industrial held by the transaction counterparties, including Shandong Weiqiao Aluminum & Electric Co., Ltd. (“Weiqiao Aluminum & Electric”). The transaction price exceeded 63.5 billion yuan, setting a record for the largest private enterprise M&A scale in A-shares since the release of the “Six M&A Rules.”

Through this merger under the same control, Hongqiao Holdings transformed from a single aluminum deep-processing business into a comprehensive industry chain giant integrating alumina, electrolytic aluminum, and aluminum deep processing. According to Minsheng Securities research report, after completing the restructuring, Hongqiao Holdings’ production capacity ranks only behind China Aluminum, becoming one of the leading companies in China’s electrolytic aluminum and alumina sectors.

The annual report shows that in 2025, Hongqiao Holdings’ electrolytic aluminum and alumina production were 6.545 million tons and 20.1378 million tons, respectively, accounting for approximately 14.80% and 21.67% of the national output that year.

In terms of revenue composition, sales of liquid aluminum and alumina became the company’s main income sources, with last year’s revenue from these products reaching 96.589 billion yuan and 30.032 billion yuan, accounting for 61.63% and 19.16% of total revenue, respectively, with gross profit margins of 22.34% and 12.15%.

The company’s performance is closely related to industry prosperity. Since early 2025, aluminum prices have continued to rise. The main contract price of Shanghai aluminum hovered around 19,000 yuan/ton at the beginning of 2025, then accelerated in the second half of the year, reaching 23,000 yuan/ton at the end of December, a new high since 2022.

Driven by expectations of restructuring and a high boom cycle in the electrolytic aluminum industry, Hongqiao Holdings’ stock price increased by over 166% last year and once hit a new all-time high this year. As of the close on March 20, Hongqiao Holdings’ stock price was 27 yuan per share, up 201% since early last year; its market value reached 351.8 billion yuan, surpassing China Aluminum (market cap 191 billion yuan), making it the aluminum company with the highest market value in the A-share market.

It is noteworthy that since the merger involved a business combination under the same control, the net profit or loss of related subsidiaries from the beginning of the period to the date of consolidation was recorded as non-recurring gains and losses. Therefore, Hongqiao Holdings’ net profit attributable to shareholders after deducting non-recurring items in 2025 was a loss of 369 million yuan.

How to achieve sustained profitability of core business based on full industry chain layout will be the key for this new “Aluminum King” to demonstrate to the market next.

Hongqiao Holdings stated in its annual report that in 2026, the company will continue to orderly transfer electrolytic aluminum capacity to Yunnan, promote the continuous increase of clean energy proportion, and highlight the advantages of green energy, achieving steady growth in low-carbon aluminum output year by year.

Since 2026, under the influence of macro policy expectations and geopolitical conflicts, aluminum prices have become more volatile. The main contract of Shanghai aluminum reached a phased high of 26,185 yuan/ton at the end of January, and alumina futures increased by over 10% within the year. Since late February, the tense situation in the Middle East has further impacted the global aluminum supply chain.

“These geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East are no longer just ‘geopolitical topics,’ but have truly entered a stage of capacity contraction, logistics disruption, raw material imbalance, and rising costs,” said Huang Yuyao, analyst at Shanghai Steel Union Aluminum Division, to Times Finance. “With Qatar announcing a 40% production cut and Bahrain Aluminum announcing a 19% reduction, the market can no longer interpret the Middle East situation with the linear thinking that ‘events will quickly recover after shocks.’”

“Middle East accounts for about 9% of global electrolytic aluminum capacity. The current impact has broken through logistics layers and substantially transmitted to smelting. If the Strait remains blocked for more than 1-2 weeks, the Middle East could face passive production cuts of 300,000 to 500,000 tons per year, with the risk of further reductions accumulating,” Huang Yuyao further explained. “The production characteristic of electrolytic aluminum being ‘easy to cut, hard to restore’ means future supply recovery will lag.”

Huang Yuyao analyzed that with resilient demand and supply contraction, the global aluminum market is shifting from tight balance to structural shortages.