Investment banks become the core driving force behind "dual revenue growth" China International Capital Corporation (CICC) focuses on new quality productivity shifting towards the capital market "co-builder"

How will AI · China International Capital Corporation (CICC) transformation co-creator influence the ecosystem?

On the evening of March 30, China International Capital Corporation (CICC) disclosed its 2025 annual report, showing that in 2025, CICC’s revenue and net profit achieved double growth, while total assets increased by double digits. Among them, investment banking became the core engine of performance growth, with the business segment’s operating income increasing by over 2 billion yuan (RMB) year-on-year, a 77.95% increase.

In fact, since 2025, China’s capital market IPO landscape has shown a high-quality development trend centered around new quality productivity. Wind data shows that in 2025, the financing amount of new A-share stocks surged by nearly 96% year-on-year, with 116 new stocks issued without any being undersubscribed; technology innovation companies became the absolute main players, with continuous expansion of hard technology projects, and new quality productivity is realizing value leaps through the capital market.

As a core intermediary in the capital market, securities firms’ investment banking business is encountering structural growth opportunities. Among them, CICC, with its solid strength in investment banking, continues to lead on major projects, promoting its shift from a “executor” to a “co-builder” role in the capital market. This not only brings strong performance growth but also further enhances the service capacity and support role of investment banking in cultivating new quality productivity.

Investment banking revenue increased by 77.95% year-on-year

CICC’s 2025 annual report shows that by the end of 2025, its total assets reached 782.826 billion yuan, a 16.02% increase from the end of the previous year; operating income was 28.481 billion yuan, up 33.5% year-on-year; net profit attributable to parent company was 9.791 billion yuan, up 71.93%; and the weighted average return on net assets (ROE) was 9.39%.

“(The revenue growth) is mainly due to the increase in net income from investment banking and brokerage fees and commissions, as well as the increase in gains from financial instruments measured at fair value,” CICC disclosed in its annual report.

According to the main business sector data for 2025, CICC’s investment banking segment’s operating income was approximately 4.597 billion yuan, an increase of 2.013 billion yuan, or 77.95% year-on-year. The investment banking segment also had the highest year-on-year growth among all industry segments listed for that period.

Specifically, in 2025, CICC served a total of 56 Chinese-funded companies’ global IPOs, raising a total of $26.783 billion, ranking at the top of the market.

As the lead underwriter, completed 7 A-share IPO projects with a total underwriting amount of 16.238 billion yuan; as the lead underwriter, completed 18 A-share refinancing projects with a total underwriting amount of 91.922 billion yuan.

Meanwhile, as a sponsor and lead underwriter for 41 Hong Kong stock IPO projects, including CATL, Seres, Sanhua Intelligent Controls, and Hitea Food, with a total underwriting scale of $7.9 billion, leading the market.

Reviewing the A-share financing performance in 2025, IPOs continued the trend of “steady volume and quality improvement,” with a total of 116 A-share IPOs completed, raising 131.771 billion yuan, a 95.64% increase year-on-year. Among them, the STAR Market and ChiNext focused on hard technology and growth-oriented innovative enterprises, with significant growth in underwriting scale, and policies supporting new quality productivity continued to be released.

At the same time, in terms of refinancing, active mergers and acquisitions led to 144 completed deals, raising 746.681 billion yuan, a 456.39% increase year-on-year.

Against this backdrop, securities firms’ investment banking business is encountering a structural growth opportunity.

Leading securities firms like CICC, with their forward-looking layout in cultivating and developing new quality productivity, have formed a complete project pipeline and deep reserves, fully grasping market initiative, and leading a new round of high-quality development in the industry.

“Currently, funds are further concentrating on leading technology companies with core competitiveness, marking a clear trend that billion-level IPO projects are returning. These projects are often led by top securities firms,” said a securities industry insider.

He cited that in July 2025, China Huaneng New Energy successfully listed on the Shanghai Main Board, raising a total of 18.171 billion yuan, becoming the first main board IPO project with a scale over 10 billion since the full registration system. This project was sponsored by CICC and jointly sponsored by Huatai Securities, demonstrating the leading position and professional strength of top securities firms in major projects.

Wind data shows that as of March 31, 2026, there are four ongoing A-share IPO projects with a financing scale of over 8 billion yuan, all led or exclusively sponsored by CICC. These projects are Changxin Technology, China Resources New Energy, Electric Power Construction New Energy, and Huike Co.

“These four projects constitute a strategic ‘top project matrix’ in the current A-share market,” said the securities industry insider. “They are not only large in scale and high in industry status but also carry the important mission of breaking through the capital market system.”

Among them, China Resources New Energy is expected to become the first red-chip listed company on the main board, further opening the channel for high-quality offshore Chinese assets to flow back; Huike Co plans to apply for listing under the third set of standards on the Shenzhen Main Board, which, if successful, will be the first company in this sector to adopt this standard, opening a new path for hard technology manufacturing enterprises.

Behind these projects is CICC’s long-term layout around serving new quality productivity.

It is understood that CICC continues to optimize and upgrade its industrial chain sci-tech financial service model, with a total transaction scale of over 1.3 trillion yuan in science and technology innovation investment banking projects in 2025. Meanwhile, it has built a service center for specialized and innovative enterprises, covering about 8,800 “specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative” companies by the end of 2025.

From “executor” to “co-builder”

In 2025, as the value of Chinese tech companies becomes more prominent, international capital gradually increases its allocation to Chinese assets. Assets representing new quality productivity, such as tech companies, are becoming core targets for global capital allocation. Leading securities firms, as the key intermediaries bridging assets and capital, are participating in shaping China’s new ecosystem in the capital market with their professional capabilities, gradually transforming from “executors” to “co-builders.”

From the perspective of promoting tech innovation enterprises to the capital market, in 2025, CICC applied for 13 A-share IPO projects that were accepted, ranking among the top in the market, covering key sectors such as semiconductors, new materials, and high-end manufacturing. These include benchmark companies like Shenghe Micro and Blue Arrow Aerospace, which have high technical barriers, strong industry influence, and high market attention.

In terms of project reserves, CICC has completed 84 projects that have been filed for guidance, covering strategic emerging fields such as technological innovation, green low-carbon, and advanced manufacturing.

In overseas financing, CICC performed outstandingly in 2025, ranking first in global IPO financing scale, Hong Kong IPO underwriting scale, and offshore bond underwriting scale among Chinese securities firms. “This reflects CICC’s deepening coverage of global investors, with comprehensive control over key underwriting links such as project promotion, issuance pricing, and allocation, and gradually establishing a leading and stable Chinese asset pricing discovery ability in international capital markets. This not only demonstrates CICC’s professional ability in organizing and communicating with global investors in the Hong Kong stock market but also signifies the company’s ongoing role in helping Chinese assets achieve more stable market recognition and pricing support in overseas issuance,” said the securities industry insider.

This is also a core sign of leading investment banks transitioning from traditional “executors” to ecosystem “co-builders.”

In the past, investment banks mainly completed standardized processes such as sponsorship, underwriting, and issuance, acting as “executors” on the path to enterprise listing, with core value in project execution and compliance. Now, top securities firms like CICC, based on industry cycles, capital market reforms, and global capital patterns, actively participate in system adaptation, value exploration, pricing system construction, and investor ecosystem building, stepping out of the single execution layer to systematically build services for cultivating new quality productivity and improving the functions of the capital market.

Taking CATL’s Hong Kong IPO project as an example, in 2025, CATL completed its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with an issuance scale of $5.25 billion.

As the sponsor, CICC, during the project process, fully explored the company’s core value amid complex international environments, with the public offering receiving over 150 times oversubscription, and successfully attracting more than ten sovereign funds and multiple international long-term investors; in terms of pricing, it helped the company achieve “zero discount” pricing based on the A-share closing price, reshaping international capital’s perception of the value of China’s new energy core assets.

In fact, among many star Hong Kong projects in 2025, CICC leveraged its extensive coverage of international core capital, attracting globally renowned sovereign funds and long-term institutional investors, providing crucial funding support for companies’ leapfrog development and helping Chinese companies “go global.” In promoting the construction of a more solid pricing foundation, market influence, and discourse system for Chinese assets in the global capital market, CICC is playing an increasingly important leading role.