Let refinancing truly play its role in the allocation of market resources.

Securities Times reporter Zhang Juanjuan

In recent years, the refinancing market has shown a good pattern of “appropriate looseness and strictness, coordinated easing and tightening, and dynamic balance.” Since 2025, the refinancing market has continued to rebound. In the first quarter, the total refinancing amount in the A-share market has already reached 2279.03 billion yuan (based on listing dates). The total amount hit the second-highest level in nearly 12 quarters, only lower than 2025 second quarter.

With the market warming up, regulators have consistently adhered to the guidance of supporting the better and restricting the worse, and strictly standardizing practices. They have set clear “red lines” across key dimensions such as profitability, use of funds, information disclosure, and the necessity of refinancing, guiding the refinancing market back to its original purpose. Against this backdrop, listed companies with financing intentions are also becoming more rational: they no longer file applications blindly, but instead proceed prudently by comprehensively considering their own fundamentals, funding needs, and the market environment.

Data changes confirm ongoing improvements in regulatory effectiveness and the market ecosystem. Judging from refinancing data over the past 5 years, the quality of relevant companies has clearly improved. At the stock-price level, since 2023, the number of companies whose stock prices fell sharply after their issuance plans were released (from the first plan to the date of the latest announcement) has noticeably declined. At the financial level, among companies that released refinancing plans in 2025, the share of companies with prior-year profits has reached a new high over the past 5 years, and the average asset-liability ratio has dropped to the lowest point over the past 5 years. At the level of the reasonableness of funds, the proportion of companies whose funds on their books exceed the amount proposed to be raised has also shown a downward trend. In 2025, only 20% remained, and the phenomenon of “refinancing even though they have plenty of money” has become clearly less common.

The termination of refinancing, at its core, is a healthy clearance driven by the joint efforts of the market and regulators. In the past, some companies took advantage of refinancing to “raise money from the market,” pursued blind forays into other sectors, or financed excessively. This not only occupied market resources, but also harmed the interests of small and medium-sized investors. Under strict “red-line” constraints, projects with weak fundamentals, insufficient necessity for financing, or unreasonable use of funds are voluntarily withdrawn or discouraged by regulators. What appears to be a “financing setback” is, in fact, an inevitable result of the market’s self-purification and resources concentrating toward high-quality companies. Terminating a batch of inefficient financing is precisely to ensure that more high-quality projects that genuinely need funds and can create value are able to land.

As an important engine for development in the capital market, the core value of refinancing lies in supporting listed companies to strengthen their main businesses, drive technological innovation, and advance transformation and upgrading, thereby improving profitability and delivering returns to investors. When the “red lines” are upheld and misconduct decreases, refinancing can truly shift from a “financing tool” into a “blood-creating engine.” On the one hand, it injects long-term capital into high-quality enterprises, helping upgrade capacity, achieve technological breakthroughs, and integrate industries. On the other hand, it steers funds toward high-performing, high-efficiency, and highly compliant high-quality assets, improving the capital market’s overall resource allocation efficiency.

For listed companies, termination is not a failure; it reflects rational choices and compliance awareness. Only by basing decisions on real needs, focusing on main-business development, and improving operating quality can refinancing play a positive role. Looking ahead, as regulators continue to promote with “supporting where appropriate and controlling where necessary, maintaining appropriate looseness and strictness,” the refinancing market will become more standardized, more transparent, and more efficient, truly achieving a virtuous cycle in which financing is effective, companies take meaningful action, and the market operates in an orderly manner.