--- title: "WuXi AppTec faces another reduction in holdings by its major shareholder, with a cumulative cash-out of nearly 20 billion over 3 years" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/271755664.md" description: "WuXi AppTec's controlling shareholder reduced their holdings by approximately 59.68 million shares between November 20, 2025, and January 5, 2026, cashing out nearly 20 billion yuan in total. This reduction was transferred to a well-known international investor, with the selling price ranging from 84.66 to 95.08 yuan per share, amounting to 5.4 billion yuan. After the reduction, the controlling shareholder's stake decreased to 16.211%. Affected by geopolitical factors and market fluctuations, WuXi AppTec's stock price rose over 90% by the end of 2025, but has recently seen a pullback. On January 7, the stock price slightly dropped to 98.41 yuan per share" datetime: "2026-01-07T08:05:46.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/271755664.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/271755664.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/271755664.md) --- # WuXi AppTec faces another reduction in holdings by its major shareholder, with a cumulative cash-out of nearly 20 billion over 3 years On the evening of January 6, WuXi AppTec (603259.SH / 02359.HK) announced that as of January 5, 2026, the actual controllers Li Ge, Zhang Chaohui, and Liu Xiaozhong, who control 18 shareholder entities, had cumulatively reduced their holdings of the company's shares by approximately 59.68 million shares through centralized bidding and block trading from November 20, 2025, to January 5, 2026, accounting for 2% of the company's total share capital. Thus, the current round of the reduction plan, which lasted for more than two months, has been completed. Since 2022, the actual controllers and their concerted actors have cumulatively reduced their holdings and cashed out nearly 20 billion yuan. ## Another Cash-Out of 5.4 Billion Yuan According to the announcement from Sing Tao, the actual controllers of WuXi AppTec in this round of reduction had well-known international investors as the transferees, and the reduction price range was between 84.66 and 95.08 yuan/share, with a total reduction amount reaching 5.4 billion yuan. Before the reduction, the three actual controllers collectively held 18.211% of WuXi AppTec's shares. After the reduction of 2%, their remaining shares were only 16.211%, but they still held a controlling stake, which is nearly double that of the second-largest shareholder's 8.34%. Regarding the reason for this round of reduction, WuXi AppTec stated when it first disclosed the reduction plan on October 30 that it was for their own funding needs. Subsequently, the three actual controllers repeatedly reduced their holdings through collective bidding and block trading. Public information shows that starting from November 7, there was a concentrated block trading of WuXi AppTec's A shares, most of which were conducted at a discount, with a discount rate of around 5%. However, ten days after the trading, the stock price mainly rose. Due to the ongoing impact of geopolitical factors and market fluctuations, WuXi AppTec's stock price has shown a volatile upward trend over the past year. By the end of 2025, the increase compared to the beginning of the year was over 90%, with the stock price rising from around 50 yuan to about 100 yuan. However, the upward momentum slowed in the second half of the year, and the stock price has seen some adjustments in the past three months. It is worth mentioning that after the reduction plan was first disclosed on the evening of October 29, 2025, WuXi AppTec's A share price fell more than 8% the next day, with its market value dropping below 300 billion yuan, raising concerns among investors about "cutting leeks." In response to the news of the completion of this reduction, on January 7, WuXi AppTec's A share price slightly declined during the collective bidding phase, and after the market opened until the morning break, the stock price was reported at 98.41 yuan/share, an increase of 2.24%, with a total market value of approximately 293.6 billion yuan. At the same time, the Hong Kong stock price fell more than 4% during the pre-opening collective bidding phase, but gradually rebounded after the market opened. As of the lunch break on January 7, the stock price was reported at 110 Hong Kong dollars/share, an increase of 3.97%, with a total market value of approximately 328.2 billion Hong Kong dollars. ## Cutting Leeks or Strategic Adjustment? Horizontally, including WuXi AppTec, companies such as Zhaoyan New Drug, Tigermed, and Kailaiying have also experienced slight reductions by actual controllers or shareholders during the stock price recovery period in 2025, with many reasons for the reductions being funding needs, which led to varying degrees of stock price fluctuations Regarding the recent share reduction by the actual controller of WuXi AppTec, market opinions are divided into two camps. Some investors believe that the actual controller is taking advantage of the stock price being at a nearly two-year high to "harvest" after the negative impacts of the U.S. security legislation gradually diminish. On the other hand, industry insiders indicate that the buyers in this share reduction are all internationally renowned investors. Coupled with WuXi AppTec's previous asset sales over the past year to further push its business focus strategy, this share reduction may be a normal capital operation based on asset allocation by the actual controller. Furthermore, after the reduction, the actual controller's shareholding ratio far exceeds that of the second-largest shareholder, indicating that the company's controlling rights remain relatively stable and are not fundamentally bearish. Additionally, some of the share reduction subjects are pre-IPO investors. WuXi AppTec has been listed on the A-share market for seven years, which also aligns with the typical exit cycle for equity investors. In other words, the core logic of this round of share reduction may be a financially optimized reduction characterized by "value realization + business focus + early investor exit." According to Sing Tao, since 2022, the actual controller and concerted actors of WuXi AppTec have implemented multiple rounds of concentrated share reductions. Although they remain the controlling shareholders, their total shareholding ratio has decreased from over 24% to currently over 16%, with cumulative cashing out nearly 20 billion yuan. It is reported that the main subjects of the share reduction are four overseas companies (G&C IV/V/VI/VII Limited) and 14 domestic partnership enterprises, all of which are concerted actors of the three actual controllers: Li Ge, Zhang Chaohui, and Liu Xiaozhong, primarily financial investment institutions that participated in WuXi AppTec's privatization in the U.S. in 2015. In fact, apart from the share reduction, WuXi AppTec has been quite active in various aspects over the past year. In 2024, under the strategic adjustment of "streamlining and focusing," WuXi AppTec has repeatedly sold off business assets in the U.S., the U.K., and even domestically, such as Kangde Hongyi, Jinshi Pharmaceutical, and WuXi AppTec's equity in HeLian, cashing out billions; at the same time, it has accelerated capacity construction and business expansion in Singapore and Saudi Arabia, and has conducted share repurchases totaling 2 billion yuan. From a performance perspective, despite the ongoing negative impacts from the U.S. security legislation and China-U.S. tariffs, WuXi AppTec's actual business has shown growth. In the first three quarters of 2025, WuXi AppTec's total revenue reached 32.857 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.6%, with net profit attributable to the parent company soaring by 84.8% to 12.076 billion yuan. Meanwhile, the orders on hand are also showing rapid growth; as of the end of September 2025, WuXi AppTec's continuing operations had orders on hand of 59.88 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 41.2%. Therefore, WuXi AppTec expects that the revenue from continuing operations in 2025 will return to double-digit growth, with the growth rate potentially increasing from 13%-17% to 17%-18%, and the overall annual revenue forecast will be adjusted from 42.5 billion to 43.5 billion yuan to 43.5 billion to 44 billion yuan. Sing Tao Global Network reporter Huang Dongyan reports from Guangzhou ### Related Stocks - [603259.CN](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/603259.CN.md) - [02359.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/02359.HK.md) ## Related News & Research - [Steak ‘n Shake’s new chief MAHA officer: We’re going ‘back to the glory days of fast food’](https://longbridge.com/en/news/284089291.md) - [16:00 ETBerlin Heals Presents Positive Late Breaking Results from the CMIC-III First-In-Human Less Invasive Study](https://longbridge.com/en/news/284048627.md) - [WuXi AppTec Flags Strong 2025 Earnings Surge on CRDMO Growth and Investment Gains](https://longbridge.com/en/news/272245608.md) - [WuXi AppTec Jumps After Chinese Drugmaker Raises 2025 Earnings Forecast Again](https://longbridge.com/en/news/272383291.md)