“King of A-shares Buybacks” Midea makes another move: puts forward the largest single buyback; a special loan may set a record

Ask AI · Why did Midea Group choose low-interest loans to repurchase shares even when it had ample funds?

South China Finance reporter: Weng Rongtao, Wang Duyu, Guo Xiaojie, Guangzhou report

On the evening of March 30, Midea Group (000333.SZ) disclosed its latest share repurchase plan. It plans to repurchase A-share stocks through centralized bidding, with an amount in the range of 6.5 billion yuan to 13 billion yuan. The maximum repurchase price will be 100 yuan per share. It is expected to repurchase 65 million to 130 million shares, accounting for 0.85% to 1.71% of total share capital.

After sorting through historical A-share repurchase data, it was confirmed that this 13 billion yuan repurchase plan is only second to Gree Electric’s single 15 billion yuan repurchase in 2021. It ranks second in the largest single repurchase in A-share history, and is also the biggest repurchase case since the implementation of the special-purpose re-loan policy for share repurchases.

A relevant person from Midea Group, when interviewed by reporters from South China Finance, said, “The company completed the 13 billion yuan repurchase plan last year. This year, it has again introduced a 13 billion yuan repurchase plan. The main purpose is to further enhance shareholder returns.”

It is worth noting that, of Midea Group’s three repurchase plans totaling 26 billion yuan since last year, besides using its own funds, the more important part is the introduction of special-purpose bank loans for share repurchases. This also aligns with the direction encouraged by regulators. Although Midea Group’s cash flow has been sufficient, an insider said that, for the completed 13 billion yuan repurchase plan last year, nearly 90% of the funds were used from bank loans, with an interest rate of about 1.8%.

Benefiting from the repurchase plan, on March 31 Midea Group’s opening price was 76.95 yuan. In early trading, the intraday increase briefly reached 7.24%. Trading activity during the session rose significantly.

Data show that since the A-share stock repurchase re-loan policy was rolled out in September 2024, 756 listed companies have already disclosed repurchase or shareholding increase loan plans in total, with an aggregate upper limit of over 200 billion yuan.

According to the announcement, the funding source for this repurchase by Midea will be the company’s own funds and the special-purpose share repurchase re-loan provided by China Bank. The loan quota will not exceed 90% of the actual repurchase amount, and the term will not exceed 3 years. Reporters learned from industry insiders that the cooperating loan bank for this loan is China Bank’s Shunde branch.

If calculated based on the upper limit repurchase amount of 13 billion yuan, the special-purpose loan quota could reach 11.7 billion yuan. This scale will not only set a new record for the highest level since the establishment of the repurchase and increase re-loan in October 2024, but will also keep this repurchase firmly in the top ranks of single repurchases in A-share history.

In fact, this amount matches the total amount of the two repurchase plans completed last year by Midea. In April last year, Midea issued an announcement stating that it would repurchase shares for implementing an equity incentive plan and/or an employee shareholding plan, with a repurchase price not exceeding 100 yuan per share, and a repurchase amount between 1.5 billion yuan and 3 billion yuan.

Along with the announcement, China Bank’s Shunde branch issued the “Midea Group Co., Ltd. Share Repurchase Loan Commitment Letter,” whose main contents are as follows: 1) The loan amount will be no more than 1 billion yuan at most; 2) The loan term will be no more than three years; 3) The loan purpose is to repurchase A-share stocks for implementing the equity incentive plan and/or the employee shareholding plan.

In June last year, Midea Group issued another announcement, launching a repurchase plan of one hundred billion yuan, and this plan was completed in December last year.

Midea’s 2025 annual report shows that for the full year, the company achieved total operating revenue of 458.5 billion yuan, and attributable net profit to shareholders of 43.95 billion yuan. Revenue and profit both achieved double-digit growth, reaching new historical highs in operating performance. The company’s business structure continued to be optimized, with overseas revenue at 195.9 billion yuan, up 16% year over year, and its globalization strategy progressed steadily; ToB industrial and technology business revenue was 122.8 billion yuan, up 17.5%.

At the financial level, as of the end of 2025, Midea Group’s total assets were about 608.8 billion yuan, and its cash and cash equivalents were about 85.2 billion yuan. The company has ample cash reserves on its books. Net assets attributable to shareholders of listed companies were about 223.2 billion yuan, and the company’s asset-liability ratio was 61.17%. Assuming that the repurchase amount follows the upper limit of 13 billion yuan, based on financial data as of December 31, 2025, the repurchase funds would account for about 2.14% of the company’s total assets and about 5.82% of net assets attributable to shareholders of listed companies.

Why does Midea Group, despite having ample cash flow, still use bank share repurchase loans? A relevant person from Midea Group told reporters, “On the one hand, the company feels that loans do receive support from the state. They not only can respond to the country’s policy calls, but also allow us to enjoy the state’s preferential low-interest-rate policies. On the other hand, it also provides some help for the company’s own capital operations.”

Industry analysts said that by introducing special-purpose loans, the company can expand the scale of the repurchase by leveraging low-cost policy funds and stabilize market value returns to shareholders, while still retaining large amounts of its own funds for continuous investment in R&D and innovation. This enables a two-way balance between market value management and business development.

As an A-share veteran repurchase leader, Midea has accumulated repurchase amounts exceeding 38.8 billion yuan since 2015. Combined with the current 13 billion yuan plan, the total scale will exceed 50 billion yuan, continuing to keep Midea at the top of the cumulative repurchase ranking in A shares.

Stock repurchase re-loans are a structural monetary policy tool jointly introduced in October 2024 by the People’s Bank of China, together with the Financial Regulation Administration and the CSRC. Based on the repurchase and increase re-loan mechanism, it provides targeted compliant, low-cost supporting financing for listed companies’ share repurchases. The funds are subject to strict earmarking for specific purposes and closed-end management; the entire process is supervised by financial institutions, and any diversion for non-approved purposes is strictly prohibited.

For listed companies, special-purpose loans can cover up to 90% of the repurchase amount, significantly reducing the占用 of own liquid funds, alleviating short-term capital pressure caused by large-scale repurchases. This allows companies to balance market value stability with day-to-day operations and industrial investments. At the same time, the loan interest rate will not exceed 2.25%, which is lower than ordinary operating loans, thereby reducing financing costs.

For the capital market, policy encouragement enables quality leaders to increase repurchase efforts. This can strengthen the market’s recognition of listed company value, guide the market to return to the philosophy of long-term value investing, smooth out short-term stock price volatility, and improve long-term and stable mechanisms in the capital market.

From across the country, since the policy was rolled out, implementation progress has been steady and coverage has continued to expand. According to the latest Ifind data, more than one year after the policy’s rollout, as of the end of March 2026, 756 listed companies have disclosed 852 repurchase or shareholding increase loan plans in total, involving an aggregate loan amount upper limit of about 200 billion yuan.

Among them, in the top ten historical repurchase or shareholding increase loan events, Midea Group occupies the first two spots, and the white goods home appliance industry occupies four of the top ten.

Currently, the issuers of stock repurchase and increase loans are limited to 21 nationwide financial institutions. Based on the latest data, both state-owned major banks and joint-stock commercial banks participate in the deployment. From leading companies to firms in subdivided industries, all have participated, making them an important tool for stabilizing expectations in the capital market in recent years.

Among these, when counting all 852 repurchase or shareholding increase loan events, the average upper limit amount per loan is 250 million yuan.

Specifically for the Guangdong local market, aside from this Midea super-large-scale special-purpose loan, multiple listed companies have also taken the lead in adopting and applying this policy tool. For example: China Merchants Land is among the first batch of pilot enterprises; it was the first to be approved for a 702 million yuan special-purpose loan. Wen’s shares was approved for a quota of 1 billion yuan, making it the private-sector leader with the highest approved额度 in Guangdong province other than Midea. In addition, Guangzhou local listed companies such as Guandian Measurement and HaoMei New Materials have also successively rolled out the related loans, covering multiple sectors including home appliances, agriculture and animal husbandry, real estate, high-end manufacturing, and professional services.