China Merchants Bank announced on 26 February 2016 that China Merchants Group will become the de facto controller of the Company.

　　On 28 December 2015, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council issued an approval letter approving that Sinotrans & CSC Holdings Co., Ltd. be allocated into China Merchants Group at nil consideration. On 24 February 2016, the Enterprise Property Right Registration Form of Sinotrans & CSC was confirmed by the SASAC of the State Council, confirmed that China Merchants Group is registered as the promoter of Sinotrans & CSC. The shares in the Company held by Sinotrans & CSC and its subsidiary Wuhan Changjiang Shipping Company are indirectly held by China Merchants Group.

　　After completion of the Change in Shareholding, the aggregate number of shares in the Company which will be effectively controlled by China Merchants Group is 7,581,635,222, accounting for 30.06% of the total share capital of the Company.

　　China Merchants Group is a backbone state-owned enterprise directly managed by the SASAC, which acts on behalf of the State Council to perform its duties as a promoter. Its predecessor, China Merchants Steam Navigation Company, was incorporated in 1872. Currently, China Merchants Group is mainly involved in its three core businesses, namely traffic (harbour, highway, energy transport and logistics, ship maintenance and ocean engineering), finance (banking, securities, funds and insurance) and real estate (industrial zone development and real estate development).