Shares of MINIEYE (02431) surged over 25% in late trading. At the time of writing, the stock is up 28.91% to HK$12.35, with a turnover of HK$326 million.

The sharp price movement follows the company's announcement that it has agreed to acquire a 50% equity stake in Xi'an Tongtu Technology Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of ZTO Express Inc. (ZTO), for a total consideration of RMB 25 million.

Of this amount, RMB 20 million will be settled through the issuance of consideration shares to ZTO Express. Upon completion of the transaction, Tongtu Technology will become a non-wholly owned subsidiary of MINIEYE, and ZTO Express will become a strategic shareholder of MINIEYE.

According to the announcement, MINIEYE's board of directors views the acquisition as a strategic opportunity to accelerate the commercialization of its Level 4 autonomous driving technology by leveraging ZTO's established logistics ecosystem.

The two parties plan to progressively scale up the deployment of unmanned vehicle operations and jointly build an industry ecosystem, based on the maturity of the underlying technology and current market demand, aiming for a mutually beneficial outcome.