Mergers and acquisitions are becoming a hot topic in the securities industry. Since May, multiple securities firms including "Guolian+Minsheng" and "Zhejiang Merchants+Guodu" have made new progress in mergers and acquisitions. At the same time, equity changes in securities industries such as Changjiang Securities, Dongguan Securities, and Northeast Securities are becoming increasingly frequent. Industry insiders say that under policy guidance, securities firms may integrate or accelerate mergers and acquisitions, thereby driving an increase in industry concentration. On May 14th, Guolian Securities announced its plan to purchase 100% of its total holdings in Minsheng Securities from 46 trading counterparties including Guolian Group and Fengquanyu through the issuance of A-shares at a price of 11.31 yuan per share, and to raise matching funds of no more than 2 billion yuan from no more than 35 designated investors for the development of Minsheng Securities business. On May 15th, after the resumption of trading, Guolian Securities hit the limit up. On April 25th, Guolian Securities had previously announced plans to acquire 95.48% of Minsheng Securities held by 45 trading counterparties through the issuance of A-shares. On May 14th, Guolian Securities announced that it plans to increase the proportion of shares in Minsheng Securities to 100%. "Minsheng Securities and Guolian Securities have complementary advantages in terms of location." According to a research report by AVIC Securities, Guolian Securities' current business is mainly concentrated in Jiangsu Province, with a total of 56 out of the company's 86 branches located in Jiangsu Province. Minsheng Securities has a wide range of comprehensive securities firms nationwide, with brokerage branches distributed in nearly 30 provinces (including municipalities and autonomous regions) across the country. After integration, Guolian Securities is expected to further expand its brokerage business layout. In addition, Minsheng Securities ranks among the top in the industry in terms of investment banking and research business strength. In 2023, Minsheng Securities ranked 17th in the industry in terms of commission income from warehouse division, while Guolian Securities ranked 38th. After integration, it is expected to increase to around 12th place. Since 2021, Minsheng Securities has focused on researching its business, with a compound annual growth rate of 153.40% in the commission income from its separate warehouses over the past two years. Another progress case comes from Zhejiang Securities and Guodu Securities. On May 10th, Zhejiang Securities announced that the company plans to participate in the bidding for the underlying shares held by Tongfang Venture Capital and Jiarong Investment. According to the property transfer information publicly disclosed by the Beijing Property Rights Exchange, Tongfang Venture Capital and Jiarong Investment publicly listed and transferred their respective 346 million shares of Guodu Securities (corresponding to 5.95% shares of Guodu Securities) and 85.3627 million shares (corresponding to 1.46% shares of Guodu Securities) at a transfer price of 911 million yuan and 224 million yuan, respectively. On March 29th, Zhejiang Securities acquired the equity of Guodu Securities from five companies and became its largest shareholder. Zhejiang Securities has announced that it plans to acquire 4.7170%, 4.7170%, 3.7736%, 3.3089%, and 2.6289% of the shares held by Guodu Securities, Chongqing Trust, Tianjin Zhongxin, Chongqing Jiahong, Shenzhen Yuanwei, and Shenzhen Zhongjun, respectively, through an agreement transfer method, with a total of 19.1454% of the shares. After the successful acquisition, Zhejiang Securities will become the largest shareholder of Guodu Securities. Ping An Securities and Founder Securities, Huachuang Securities and Tai