The fifth listing of New Era Trust Equity, with prices down more than 50% from the initial stage, as trust licenses face a cold reception.

This trust company’s 100% equity stake has once again been put up for sale.

On April 2, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily noted that the Beijing Property Rights Exchange recently launched a transfer project for the 100% equity of New Era Trust Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “New Era Trust”). The listing price is RMB 1.19B, compared with the previous RMB 1.48B.

Notably, this is the fifth time New Era Trust has transferred all of its equity. Compared with the first listing price of RMB 2.31B in August 2022, the transaction price has dropped by more than 50%. Not only New Era Trust— as the industry’s overall transformation accelerates, multiple rounds of listings for trust company equity transfers and frequent discounts have gradually become the norm within the industry. An analyst noted that, with pressure on the trust industry’s performance and a dramatic change in the profit logic, the future transfer of trust licenses will show a trend of value returning to fundamentals.

100% equity of New Era Trust valued at RMB 1.19B

100% equity of New Era Trust is being transferred again at a discount. According to the Beijing Property Rights Exchange website, New Era Trust has 6 billion shares currently being listed, covering 100% of the company’s equity in total, with a listing floor price of RMB 1.19B. The disclosure period for this transfer is from March 30 to April 27.

The listing information shows that the transferor of the 100% equity of New Era Trust is the company’s four shareholders: New Era Vision (Beijing) Investment Co., Ltd., Shanghai Ren Guang Industrial Development Co., Ltd., Weifang Kewei Investment Co., Ltd., and Baotou Shinxingsheng Trading Co., Ltd., with ownership percentages of 58.54%, 24.39%, 14.63%, and 2.44%, respectively.

Based on information from New Era Trust’s official website and sources such as Tianyancha, New Era Trust was officially established in 1987 after approval by the People’s Bank of China. Its predecessor was Baotou Trust and Investment Co. In December 2003, after approval by the regulatory authorities, it was re-registered and renamed New Era Trust Investment Co., Ltd. Subsequently, in June 2009, it was further renamed New Era Trust Co., Ltd. In August 2016, New Era Trust’s registered capital was increased to RMB 6 billion, which corresponds to the 6 billion shares involved in this transfer.

For New Era Trust, the industry is not unfamiliar. According to judicial decision information, it was during the second renaming that Tomorrow Holding and its de facto controller Xiao Jianhua, through measures such as dispersed shareholdings, layer-by-layer control, and shadow/nominee control, carried out actual control over New Era Trust, turning the company into a financial institution under the “Tomorrow Group.” After the “Tomorrow Group” risks were exposed, New Era Trust was also brought within the scope of disposition.

The listing information for this round has disclosed related information about New Era Trust. On July 17, 2020, the former China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission decided to take over New Era Trust in accordance with the law. The takeover period ran from July 17, 2020 to July 16, 2021, and was then extended by one year legally to July 16, 2022. From the start of the takeover, the shareholders’ meeting, board of directors, and board of supervisors of the institution under takeover were suspended from performing their duties, and all relevant functions were assumed by the takeover team.

A Beijing Business Daily reporter noted that on May 8, 2020, New Era Trust released its last trust product establishment announcement, with a pooled trust funding amount of RMB 17.8 million. After that, no new products were issued. In June 2022, New Era Trust announced a plan to resolve principal for individual investors; as of the end of the signing period on June 28, 2022, investors accounting for 99.5% by number had completed the signing.

New Era Trust’s financial report data has been stalled since 2019. According to the company’s 2019 annual report, during the reporting period, New Era Trust’s operating income was RMB 420 million, down 41.18% year-on-year; net profit was RMB 150 million, down 59.94% year-on-year. At the end of the reporting period, New Era Trust’s total assets were RMB 9.36B, total liabilities RMB 742 million, and the scale of managed assets was RMB 322.4 billion.

Trust license transfers cool down overall

During the takeover period, New Era Trust announced in September 2021 that it would launch a market-oriented equity restructuring, and said it would restore normal operations as soon as possible. After that, in July 2022, once the chairman and legal representative were replaced with Cai Chengwei, the company embarked on nearly four years of a bumpy equity-transfer journey.

In August 2022, New Era Trust’s 100% equity was first listed for transfer, with the transaction price at that time being RMB 2.31B. Afterwards, in May 2024, December 2025, and February 2026, New Era Trust listed the equity three more times. Of these, the first two rounds were priced at RMB 1.85B, and the last listing was RMB 1.48B, about 80% of the preceding price.

Only about ten-odd days after the fourth listing lapsed, New Era Trust initiated the fifth transfer process. The transaction price was RMB 1.19B, another 20% discount compared with the previous listing price of RMB 1.48B. Compared with the initial RMB 2.31B, within less than four years, the price of this trust license has dropped by more than 50%.

Yu Zhi, a researcher at YuoYi Financial Trust Research Institute, believes that the large discount and even failure to sell on New Era Trust’s equity transfer listings mainly stem from two reasons: first, problems intrinsic to the trust company itself—the uncertainty of risk disposition remains relatively high, and the investment required to restore operations later may be substantial; the market does not look favorably on it, which is a normal situation. Second, the impact of the industry cycle—under multiple pressures such as tighter regulation, risk clearing, and business transformation, the trust industry’s performance is under pressure and the profit logic has changed dramatically. Equity value of trust companies is affected greatly by factors such as an unclear industry outlook, leading to relatively low overall market investment willingness.

Yu Fenghui, an invited researcher of the China Finance Think Tank, pointed out that the sharp drop in New Era Trust’s price reflects poor operating conditions or substantial risk exposures, resulting in investors assigning a lower valuation of its value. Especially when considering the company’s governance structure after the takeover, capital adequacy, and potential risk issues, prospective buyers also have concerns about the difficulty and cost of integration after taking over.

In fact, in recent years, the trust equity transfer market has cooled across the board, and the once “one license hard to get” boom has completely ended. New Era Trust has gone through five rounds of listings, and despite large reductions in transaction prices, it is still hard to find a buyer. This is not an isolated case in the industry. Earlier, for several institutions including Western Trust, Huaxin Trust, Tianjin Trust, and Zhongyuan Trust, some of their equity shares similarly went through multiple listings and suffered significant price cuts.

At present, China Railway Trust’s 0.826% equity is still experiencing a second listing at the Beijing Property Rights Exchange. The floor price has been reduced from RMB 101 million to RMB 90.5 million. This round of listing lasted 4 months and expires on April 3, but it also has not found a new buyer.

Yu Fenghui said that the value of a trust license often depends on many factors, such as the company’s asset quality, business scope, market position, and the overall industry environment. The reasons the market has cooled for license transfers mainly include tightening industry regulation, an increase in default risk of trust products in the context of slowing economic growth, and intensified market competition.

License transfers will show a trend of value returning

Behind the difficulty of trust license transfers is the accelerated transformation of the trust industry, which also reflects a new phase in which the trust industry is moving on from “license dividend” benefits.

As the “1+N” trust regulatory framework is gradually established, the industry has entered a new stage characterized by accelerated risk clearing and deep differentiation in the landscape. After the rollout of the asset management new rules and the “new three classifications,” trust industry financing-related and channel business lines have been comprehensively compressed. The era of profiting from license arbitrage and “earning while lying down” has ended, and institutions in the business have also faced intense new competition for businesses.

At the same time, stricter industry regulation has made market institutions more cautious when laying out trust licenses. On January 1, 2026, the revised and issued “Measures for the Administration of Trust Companies” officially took effect. The document clearly requires strengthening shareholder information-through review and strictly forbids shareholders from investing with non-own funds. It also strictly limits related-party transactions and emphasizes shareholders’ responsibility for risk disposition. This means that investing in a trust company is no longer short-term speculation, but rather a long-term financial business operation that requires sustained investment, accepting risks, and being subject to strong regulation.

In recent years, under regulatory guidance, institutions like New Era Trust—high-risk trust companies—have orderly completed risk resolution. Judging by subsequent developments, some institutions have entered bankruptcy restructuring processes. Some people in the trust industry noted that for operating-stalled institutions like New Era Trust, they may face disposition at even lower prices later. If equity transfers continue to find no takers, it is not excluded that subsequent bankruptcy liquidation could occur, resulting in a formal declaration of elimination.

Regarding the reasons why the company’s equity transfer is difficult and the subsequent response measures, a Beijing Business Daily reporter interviewed the relevant parties at New Era Trust. As of the time of publication, the reporter had not received a reply.

Yu Zhi also said that in the future, the equity value of trust companies may be linked to factors such as operating quality and transformation capability. Equity in trust companies with stable operations may be pursued by some investors, but for high-risk institutions, even if prices are cut, it is still likely difficult to find suitable investors.

In the view of Liao Heikai, an analyst at JInle Function, future trust license transfers will show a trend of value returning, and high-risk institutions may in the future be taken over and participate in restructuring by “national team” institutions coordinated by regulators, rather than via unconventional market-oriented pricing transactions. Trust companies should focus on building core capabilities, speed up risk disposition, and enhance compliance building, so as to achieve business transformation driven by services.

“As regulatory policies are further implemented and the market adjusts itself, the attractiveness of trust licenses may change,” Yu Fenghui analyzed. “Industry participants should strengthen risk management, optimize business structures, improve service quality and innovation capability, and adapt to the new regulatory requirements and market needs.”

At the same time, Yu Fenghui pointed out that trust companies should actively look for strategic cooperation partners and enhance their competitiveness through merger and restructuring, which is an effective strategy to respond to industry changes. For enterprises intending to purchase trust licenses, they must carefully evaluate the target company’s actual situation to ensure the reasonableness and safety of investment decisions.

Beijing Business Daily reporter: Liao Meng