Missing Chinese billionaire banker Bao Fan assisting authorities in investigation, company says

theguardian.com:

The Chinese billionaire tech banker Bao Fan, who was reported missing 10 days ago, is cooperating with Chinese authorities conducting an investigation, a China-based boutique bank has said.

It is the first time China Renaissance Holdings has given a reason for the disappearance of its founder and chairman, though no details about the investigation were shared.

“The board would like to reiterate that the business and operations of the group are continuing normally,” the bank said in the exchange filing on Sunday.

Reuters previously reported, citing sources, that authorities took Bao away earlier this month to assist in an investigation into a former colleague, Cong Lin, the company’s former president.

Shares of the company slumped last week after it said in an exchange filing the company had been unable to contact Bao.

Bao is a major figure in China’s tech industry and has played a key role in the emergence of a string of large domestic internet startups.

The star dealmaker’s disappearance is the latest in a series of cases of high-profile Chinese executives going missing with little explanation during a sweeping anti-corruption campaign spearheaded by President Xi Jinping.

In 2015 alone, at least five executives became unreachable without prior notice to their companies, including Fosun Group chairman Guo Guangchang, who Fosun later said was assisting with investigations regarding a personal matter.

Bao’s disappearance also comes against the backdrop of more than two years of sweeping regulatory crackdown on technology companies.

Bao, also China Renaissance’s controlling shareholder, started the firm in 2005 as a two-person team, seeking to match capital-hungry startups with venture capitalist and private equity investors.

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