"Play a thousand songs and then understand the sound, watch a thousand swords and then recognize the weapon." By 2025, the art of "recognizing weapons" in the capital market will no longer just look at who has strong financing capabilities and good project packaging, but also look at who can strike at a critical moment and win the "trump card" of controlling rights.
If 2023 is the beginning of industrial restructuring and 2024 is the deep water area of price game, then in 2025, the real battle has shifted from the "valuation negotiation table" to the "control of the board of directors". Capital is either buying at the bottom or blocking the position. The acquisition of controlling rights has become a super switch that determines the direction of the industry pattern.
Goheal pointed out that the number of controlling rights mergers and acquisitions in the Chinese market has increased year-on-year, but the transaction structure is more complex, the game is more intense, and the results are more extreme. The winner is crowned king and the loser is out. Behind it is not only the replacement of industrial power, but also the "sketcher" of the industry map in the next 10 years.
American Goheal M&A Group
This new capital gamble is no longer just a contest between investors, it is changing the trajectory of the entire industry.
In the eyes of many people, the acquisition of controlling rights sounds like an internal power transfer, with directors replaced, articles of association adjusted, business integrated, and then everything returns to calm. But those who have really participated know that this is the most dangerous and critical step. Controlling rights are not a share game, it is an "implicit reconstruction": culture needs to be restarted, resources need to be reallocated, and valuation logic needs to be refurbished.
Especially in 2025, the traditional industrial boundaries have long been broken, and new and old capitals are fighting hand-to-hand in the new energy, AI, and manufacturing chains. At this time, whoever controls the controlling rights can define the next industry narrative.
Take a leading lithium battery company as an example. At the end of 2024, the equity of its original founding team was diluted to 25%. The newly entered industrial fund won the controlling rights through an agreement transfer and a shareholder meeting re-election. In just half a year, it quickly divested the old production line, replaced the financial system, and introduced AI algorithms to optimize the production capacity layout-the entire business structure was completely refreshed, and the valuation revaluation rose by nearly 70%.
This is not an ordinary improvement in operation, but a change of the industry's way of thinking. And the right to initiate this "change of chapter" belongs only to the person sitting on the throne of control.
Goheal found in many cases that controlling rights mergers and acquisitions are no longer the exclusive way of "elephant dancing", and small and medium-sized companies are the main battlefield of the control war.
The reason is simple:
The elephant is too heavy, it is too difficult to turn around, and it is too late to change; on the contrary, those companies that "have stories but lack resources" are more likely to become the match point for capital betting. After the buyer's capital enters, it only needs to reconstruct a little governance, correct a little strategy, and graft a little resources to give a new life to the originally "outdated" business model.
For this reason, the acquisition of controlling rights is upgrading from "capital control" to "industry design". Acquisition is not just buying shares, but rewriting the rules of the game, reshaping the ecological logic, and redrawing the value anchor.
Do you think they are speculating in equity? In fact, they are changing the script. However, the complexity of this new capital gamble is far beyond imagination.
First of all, the price of controlling rights is no longer a static premium coefficient, but a dynamic risk game model. Behind the M&A consideration is the prediction and betting of multiple variables such as future industry space, policy direction, ESG norms, and talent supply. This is why you will see that in the same industry and with similar market value, some companies sell their controlling rights at a 10% premium, while others sell them at 80%. That is not expensive, but a big and accurate bet.
Secondly, the acquisition path is no longer single, but full of "Wulin routines": agreement transfer + fixed increase bridge, old shareholders exit + management counter-holding, bypassing the public disclosure threshold through employee stock ownership platform, using listed companies to create acquisition space through targeted repurchase... Behind every move, there is a struggle and dance between lawyers, financial advisors, funds, and PE.
In the acquisition of a cross-border intelligent manufacturing enterprise, Goheal even adopted the method of "double trust + red chip structure reorganization" to complete the penetration control of overseas entities-there is only one purpose: to get control first, and then design the governance mechanism.
In today's era of "whoever can move first has the script right", speed and strategy are more important than capital size. However, it must be noted that the acquisition of controlling rights is not only the spring breeze of capital, it can also be the frosty blade of strategy.
If a controlling rights transaction is not handled properly, it is likely to trigger a chain reaction such as "collective departure of management", "passive paralysis of business", and "loss of original partners". Especially in enterprises with strong founder emotions, exclusive employee culture, and weak industrial synergy, the change of controlling rights is very likely to trigger a "hollowing out" crisis - capital comes in, but the heart leaves.
Therefore, smart acquirers are no longer "talking about premiums" but "talking about consequences".
They are more concerned about: who stays and who leaves? How to rebuild the governance structure? How to integrate organizational culture? Will the original shareholders continue to bear financial or strategic bets? Do employees accept new KPIs? Can data, technology, and customers migrate sustainably?
Capital is a gentle hand and a sharp knife. Whether you let it cut the cake or the team depends on your preparation.
Therefore, the real high-level acquisition of controlling rights is no longer a price war, but a cognitive war. Whoever can understand the next turning point of the industry first can transform this "controlling rights ticket" into the right to speak for the next ten years at the moment of acquisition.
In many transactions that Goheal participated in, some buyer capital had already built a complete resource matrix around the target company even before the acquisition was completed - from supply chain integration to sales channel connection, to capital preheating in the secondary market, almost every step was positioned in advance, with a clear purpose: not to be a "capital fire brigade", but only to be an "industry director".
Goheal Group
Their logic is: controlling rights are a director's chair, not an audience seat. Whoever controls the camera determines who the lens is given to and how the plot goes.
This also means that the battle for controlling rights acquisition in 2025 is no longer just a "capital transaction", but a "value penetration", a deep fight of strategy, culture, and organization.
You can't just buy shares, you must bring stories, strategies, models, teams, and culture. Otherwise, you just "bought the company" instead of "controlling the future".
And the pattern of capital will eventually be written by those who are capable of manipulating the future.
So here comes the question - In the industry you are concerned about, are there any companies that are quietly transferring their controlling rights? Do you think such transactions are "capital invasion" or "industry restart"? Do you support "sacrificing feelings for efficiency" or "retaining veterans and sticking to culture"? How do you view the corporate value, employee fate and industry future behind the controlling rights? The capital game of 2025 has been opened, and the gambling game is still going on.
Welcome to leave a message in the comment area to discuss, dismantle, solve and break the game together. ——Goheal, read the capital trend with you and predict the direction of the industry.
[About Goheal] Goheal is a leading investment holding company focusing on global mergers and acquisitions, focusing on the three core business areas of acquisition of listed company control, mergers and acquisitions of listed companies and capital operations of listed companies. With its deep professional strength and rich experience, it provides enterprises with full life cycle services from mergers and acquisitions to restructuring and capital operations, aiming to maximize corporate value and achieve long-term benefit growth.
