Written by | Yang Wanli
Edited by | Liu Zhentao
What sparks will fly when traditional industry listed companies “take flight” with technology concepts?
Recently, Heshun Petroleum announced plans to invest up to 540 million yuan to acquire Shanghai Kuixin Integrated Circuit Design Co., Ltd. (referred to as: Kuixin Technology), venturing into the chip sector.
Heshun Petroleum is known as the “first stock of private gas stations”; its main business is a retail chain of gas stations, with products including gasoline and diesel, which accounted for 77.91% and 20.77% of its revenue in the first half of this year, respectively.
The semiconductor chip market has been a hot track in recent years, and a company unrelated to this field entering the semiconductor industry has stirred the capital market, attracting market attention.
From the company’s financial data, it can be seen that in recent years, Heshun Petroleum has faced pressure on its performance, with both revenue and net profit declining in the first three quarters. The company aims to venture into the booming semiconductor field to seek new growth opportunities.
However, this cross-industry move by Heshun Petroleum has sparked considerable external controversy: firstly, before the acquisition announcement, Heshun Petroleum’s stock price unexpectedly hit the daily limit, as if the market had insider information. Is there a possibility of insider information leakage?
Secondly, the equity binding for this acquisition only binds the actual controller of Kuixin Technology, and the funds from the equity binding may ultimately flow to the family of Heshun Petroleum’s actual controller, raising concerns about whether the actual controller is using the transaction to cash out shares.
Amidst numerous doubts, can Heshun Petroleum’s cross-industry acquisition succeed?
Seeking growth through semiconductor ventures,
Target asset profitability is unstable
What exactly is Heshun Petroleum’s situation in venturing into semiconductors?
According to the announcement disclosed by Heshun Petroleum, the company plans to acquire no less than 34% of Kuixin Technology’s equity through cash and capital increase, while controlling 51% of the voting rights through voting rights entrustment. After the completion of this transaction, Kuixin Technology will become a subsidiary.
Heshun Petroleum stated that the semiconductor-related industry has good development prospects and significant growth potential, and the strategic layout aims to find new performance growth points. On November 19, during a conference call, an investor asked, “Why does the company want to acquire Kuixin Technology?” Heshun Petroleum’s staff admitted, “Due to changes in consumer habits and the market share of new energy vehicles, the company’s net profit attributable to the parent has declined in recent years,” and added, “The management has been looking for transformation and breakthroughs.”
How has Heshun Petroleum’s performance been in recent years?
Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Changsha, Hunan, Heshun Petroleum is a representative enterprise in China’s private gas station chain industry. Heshun Petroleum successfully went public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on April 7, 2020.
Since its listing, from 2020 to 2024, Heshun Petroleum’s revenue figures were 1.844 billion yuan, 3.933 billion yuan, 3.994 billion yuan, 3.273 billion yuan, and 2.812 billion yuan, showing significant fluctuations, with negative revenue growth in 2020, 2023, and 2024.
From 2020 to 2024, Heshun Petroleum’s net profit attributable to the parent was 170.5 million yuan, 91.46 million yuan, 103.8 million yuan, 52.23 million yuan, and 29.27 million yuan, showing an overall decline.
In the first three quarters of 2025, Heshun Petroleum achieved revenue of 2.126 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 0.13%; the net profit attributable to the parent was 21.81 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 49.44%. The decline in net profit is attributed to significant fluctuations in crude oil prices and a narrowing of the price difference between wholesale and retail.
Under performance pressure, Heshun Petroleum began its transformation, launching a charging pile business by the end of 2023, attempting to become a comprehensive energy supplier.
However, as of the first half of 2025, the combined revenue from gasoline and diesel business contributed over 98%, while the charging pile business has not yet been able to shoulder the performance burden. Faced with performance pressure, Heshun Petroleum urgently needs to find growth avenues, and the semiconductor sector has become its direction for performance enhancement.
What is the operational status of Kuixin Technology, which Heshun Petroleum is interested in?
According to available information, Kuixin Technology was established in 2021, and its main products and services include various high-speed interface IPs and Chiplet solutions based on interconnected IPs, as well as chip design services.
In terms of performance, Kuixin Technology’s revenue has shown overall growth, but profitability is unstable. In 2023, Kuixin Technology achieved revenue of approximately 146 million yuan, with a net profit of -74.87 million yuan; in 2024, it achieved revenue of approximately 193 million yuan, with a net profit of 530,500 yuan; in the first half of 2025, it achieved revenue of approximately 110 million yuan, with a net profit loss of 9.75 million yuan.
According to the announcement, this transaction includes performance commitments: Kuixin Technology commits that from 2025 to 2028, the audited revenue for each year will not be less than 300 million yuan, 450 million yuan, 600 million yuan, and 750 million yuan, respectively, and the audited net profit attributable to the parent company will be positive for each year.
For example, for the 2025 fiscal year, to fulfill this year’s performance commitment, it needs to achieve revenue of 190 million yuan in the second half of the year and turn a profit. The revenue target is nearly double that of the first half.
Although Heshun Petroleum and the transaction parties have agreed on performance compensation clauses, such aggressive performance commitments face challenges in completion.
Ongoing controversies:
Acquisition questioned for hidden cash-out methods
Heshun Petroleum’s venture into the semiconductor field is aimed at seeking performance growth; however, this cross-industry acquisition has sparked considerable market controversy: the disputes revolve around the company’s stock price rising prematurely in the capital market and whether there is a disguised cash-out by the actual controller.
The announcement of Heshun Petroleum’s acquisition of Kuixin Technology in the semiconductor sector was released on the evening of November 16, while on the trading day before the announcement, November 14, Heshun Petroleum’s stock price hit the daily limit shortly after the market opened.
Additionally, Wind data shows that the company’s stock price began to rise at the end of October, with a cumulative increase of over 70% from October 28 to November 17, showing a certain degree of divergence from the Shanghai Composite Index and the petrochemical index.
The premature limit-up and the previous divergence from the index have led to widespread speculation in many investment communities about whether the acquisition information was leaked in advance.
In addition to the stock price fluctuations, the market is also paying attention to the details of this transaction, with voices questioning whether Heshun Petroleum is suspected of disguised cashing out.
According to the announcement, on November 14, 2025, the actual controller of Kuixin Technology, Chen Wanyi, signed a share transfer agreement with Heshun Petroleum’s actual controllers Yan Ximing, Zhao Zunming, and their concerted actors Zhao Xiong, with a transfer price of 22.932 yuan per share, totaling approximately 237 million yuan. After this equity change, Chen Wanyi will become a shareholder of Heshun Petroleum holding more than 5% of the shares.
Heshun Petroleum stated that this equity change is to acquire control of Kuixin Technology, to bind the core management personnel of Kuixin Technology to fulfill performance commitments, and to achieve common development. At the same time, based on the future business development needs of the company, it aims to further optimize the equity structure.
The general process is: Heshun Petroleum invests money to acquire Kuixin Technology’s equity, and the actual controller of Kuixin Technology uses some funds to acquire part of Heshun Petroleum’s shares, while Heshun Petroleum’s actual controller transfers some shares to obtain cash.
According to media reports, there are views in the market that this is an operation that uses the name of acquisition to cash out. Some industry insiders believe that if the funding path of this transaction can be cut off, it can only be considered a related transaction and cannot be directly identified as cashing out.
From the announcement, it is emphasized that the funds involved in this equity change come from Chen Wanyi’s own or self-raised funds.
Whether there is disguised cashing out will depend on the flow of the acquisition funds and the expenditure situation of Kuixin Technology’s accounts after receiving the funds.
It is worth noting that as of September 30, 2025, Heshun Petroleum’s monetary funds amounted to 311.8 million yuan. According to the announcement, the total value of 100% equity of Kuixin Technology is not more than 1.588 billion yuan (post-capital increase valuation), and Heshun Petroleum expects the final transaction amount to not exceed 540 million yuan.
540 million yuan is not a small amount for Heshun Petroleum; based solely on its monetary funds, the funding gap for this acquisition exceeds 220 million yuan. After the acquisition is completed, not only will it need to pay the transaction price of 540 million yuan, but it will also need to continuously invest funds to support Kuixin Technology’s R&D and market expansion, which will further increase the company’s financial pressure.
Heshun Petroleum’s venture into semiconductors may be a desperate move in the face of performance pressure. We will continue to monitor the progress of Heshun Petroleum’s cross-industry acquisition.
For more exciting content, click to follow👇
About Scale Business