The capital market played an increasingly important role in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) of China's listed companies in the past five years, the China Securities Journal reported Thursday.

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From 2006 to 2010, M&As of the country's listed companies reached a total of 989 billion yuan ($150 billion), Yang Hua, the director-general of the Department of Listed Company Supervision of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), told the paper during an exclusive interview.

According to the latest statistics provided by Yang, 47 major M&As took place in 2010 with a total transaction amount of 133.8 billion yuan.

This year, the CSRC will promote the healthy and rapid development of M&As in six aspects: M&A bodies, pricing, approval process, risk control, information disclosure and intermediary liability, Yang said.

He said M&As have helped the integration and upgrade of the industry, which greatly promoted the quality of assets and profit levels.