1992年我国出现第一起以并购为目的的股份回购事件，30年来我国股份回购制度不断发展完善。2018年在整个市场股价持续低迷的背景下，《公司法》对允许实施回购情形的放宽促成了A股市场第一次回购潮。至2022年，股份回购逐渐常态化，成为企业传递低估信号、进行市值管理的工具。参考美国资本市场的历史经验，回购工具在2001年的“9.11”事件和2008年的金融危机中都起到了“救火”的作用，可见股份回购对上市公司具有重要的现实意义，有利于推动资本市场有效性建设。但近年来，越来越活跃的回购市场上出现了“忽悠式”回购，“边回购边减持”等基于短期、少数人利益的回购现象，对公司声誉、投资者信心都造成了负面的影响。目前学术界关于回购实施的经济后果尚未达成一致意见，回购虽然可以在短期内维稳股价，但对于自有资金的消耗是否挤出了必要的投资从而利空企业绩效？哪些因素会作用于回购对企业绩效的影响？这些是本文要研究的问题。本文选取2013年至2022年10年间A股上市公司的数据，使用控制个体和时间固定效应的模型进行多元回归分析，结合回购资金来源与回购对营运资金和投资支出的影响，分析回购导致企业绩效变动的机制。采用逐年倾向得分匹配（PSM）、工具变量与分组回归的方法解决可能存在的内生性问题，并通过更换变量衡量方法、调整研究样本与更改时间区间的方式进行稳健性检验，最后从企业的融资约束程度、股票价格走势、高管减持行为与股权结构特征四个角度进行异质性分析。本文通过理论与实证分析得到以下结论：股份回购对于企业绩效的影响是负面的，因为回购消耗了自有现金，挤出了企业生产经营所需的固定资产投资与营运资金，这种负面的影响在融资约束程度高、股价走势差、回购后有董监高减持、股权集中度高以及股权制衡度低的企业中表现更明显。本文在回购制度进一步放开后基于大样本进行回归分析，作为对回购实施后果研究的补充，从我国资本市场实际情况出发分析股份回购对于企业绩效的影响，提出企业决策中可能存在的问题与现有制度待完善之处，对于企业、投资者以及监管部门都具有一定的参考意义。
Since the first share repurchase for the purpose of acquisitions occurred in China in 1992, the share repurchase regimes have been continuously developed and improved over the past 30 years. In 2018, under the continued downturn of share prices in the whole market, the relaxation of the Company Law on the circumstances that allow the implementation of repurchases contributed to the first wave of repurchases in the A-share market. By 2022, share repurchases have gradually become normalized in China, becoming a tool for companies to signal undervaluation and conduct market value management. Referring to the historical experience of the US capital market, share repurchases played a role in putting out the fires of the ‘September 11’ incident in 2001 and the financial crisis in 2008, which shows that share repurchases are of great practical significance to listed companies and play an indispensable role in promoting the effectiveness of the capital market. But the increasingly active repurchase market has also seen the emergence of "flimsy" repurchases, "repurchase while reducing holdings" and other repurchase phenomena based on short-term, minority interests, which have a negative impact on the company‘s reputation and investors’ confidence. There is no consensus in academic circles on the economic consequences of repurchases. Although repurchases can stabilize share prices in the short term, do they squeeze out necessary investments and reduce business performance? What factors play a role in the relationship? These are the questions that this paper will examine.Based on data from A-share listed companies from 2013 to 2022, this paper analyses the mechanisms by which repurchases lead to changes in corporate performance by controlling for individual and annual fixed effects models and combining the sources of funding for repurchases with the impact of repurchases on operating and investment expenditures. Possible endogeneity issues are addressed by using year-by-year propensity score matching (PSM), instrumental variable and group regressions. Robustness tests are conducted by replacing the variable measures, adjusting the sample and changing the time interval. Finally, heterogeneity analysis is conducted from the perspective of the degree of financing constraints, stock price movements, executives’ reduction of their holdings and equity structure characteristics of the firms.Theoretical and empirical analyses have led to the following conclusions: the impact of share repurchases on corporate performance is negative, as they deplete cash and squeeze out investment in fixed assets and working capital needed for corporate production and operation, and this negative impact is more pronounced in companies with high financing constraints, poor stock price trends, reduction of executives’ holdings, high equity concentration and low equity checks and balances.This paper conducts a regression analysis based on a large sample after the further liberalization of the repurchase system. It is a supplement to the study on the consequences of repurchases, analyses the impact on corporate performance from the actual situation of China‘s capital market, and suggests possible problems in corporate decision-making and areas for improvement of the existing system, which are of reference value to companies, investors, and regulators.
