Prominent Chinese Investment Banker Bao Fan Goes Missing, Bank Says

Topline

Bao Fan, chairman and CEO of Beijing-based China Renaissance Holdings, is missing, according to a Thursday filing, as the company says it has no additional information about Fan’s whereabouts, adding to a recent string of disappearances of high-profile business executives in China.

Key Facts

China Renaissance, a Chinese investment bank and private equity firm, “has been unable to contact” Fan, according to a Thursday filing at the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.

“The board is not aware of any information that indicates” Bao’s disappearance is related to the company’s business, the firm added, “which is continuing normally.”

Shares at the company fell by as much as 50% in Hong Kong Friday morning, though they now sit just over 28% lower than its previous listing.

China Renaissance did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes.

Surprising Fact

Prominent and wealthy Chinese figures have disappeared in the past. Billionaire Guo Guangchang, chairman of the conglomerate Fosun International, went missing in 2015 before resurfacing a few days later, according to the BBC. Guo reportedly helped government officials with an unspecified investigation during his absence. Ren Zhiqiang, who amassed a fortune through real estate holdings, disappeared for several months after allegedly speaking out against Chinese leader Xi Jinping in 2020, according to CNN. He was later jailed for 18 years on corruption charges. Billionaire Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, disappeared for several months after criticizing China’s financial regulatory system before later reappearing in Tokyo in 2022, according to the Financial Times. Seazen Group, another Chinese investment firm, reported vice chairman Qu Dejun as missing in a February 10 filing.

Big Number

$2 billion. That’s how much China Renaissance reported in total assets for 2021, according to the company, an increase of 13% over the previous year.

Key Background

Fan, a former investment banker at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse, founded China Renaissance in 2015. Fan rose to prominence for handling high-profile mergers, including mergers between ride-hailing companies Did and Kuaidi, and a merger between the food delivery service Meituan and the restaurant review site Dianping. The company last reported $87.8 million in revenue for the first half of 2022, a 40% decrease over the previous year.

Further Reading

China Renaissance Shares Plunge After Investment Bank Says Chairman Unreachable (Reuters)