Billionaire CEO Bao Fan the latest Chinese executive to go missing
Global News
The founder and CEO of one of China's top investment banks has become unreachable, spooking investors and sending shares in his company plummeting.
The founder and CEO of one of China’s top investment banks has become unreachable, according to his company, China Renaissance Holdings Ltd., spooking investors and sending shares plummeting on Friday.
Bao Fan, a veteran dealmaker and billionaire tech investor, is the latest in a recent string of disappearances among top Chinese executives.
In a late Thursday filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, China Renaissance stated that it “has been unable to contact” Bao, its CEO, chairman and controlling shareholder. It’s unclear how long he has been gone but Chinese reports say Bao hasn’t shown up to his office or been seen in public for a number of days.
“The board is not aware of any information that indicates that Mr. Bao’s unavailability is or might be related to the business and/or operations of the group,” the firm said in the filing, noting the company is still running as normal.
At its lowest point on Friday, China Renaissance’s shares were down 50 per cent, to a record low of HK$5 in early trade, wiping off HK$2.8 billion ($480 million) in market value.
The stock regained some ground later in the day to end at 28 per cent down. Nearly 30 million shares of the boutique investment bank changed hands on Friday, the highest on record.
“If a listed company voluntarily discloses that a senior manager or a major shareholder cannot be contacted, it’s truly unusual, as the person might have been out of reach for some time,” said Dickie Wong, executive director of research at Kingston Securities.
The investors’ worst nightmare is that a company’s ability to continue operations is impaired, so a stock sell-off is not surprising given the uncertainty, Wong added.