Top Chinese banker Bao Fan goes missing, sending chills down nation’s finance industry: Reports

Bao Fan, a high-profile tech banker in China, has gone missing, sending chills down the country’s finance industry. On Thursday (February 16), Bao’s company China Renaissance Holdings Ltd said that it had lost touch with him, the news agency Bloomberg reported. A person familiar with developments said Bao Fan was out of contact with the company for two days, adding his family was told that he was assisting in an investigation. 

The person, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the former president of China Renaissance Cong Lin had been involved in an investigation by authorities since September last year. Cong has held various positions at the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd, and he left China Renaissance last year. 

China Renaissance stock slides by 50%

On Friday (February 17), China Renaissance’s stock slid by 50% in early Hong Kong trading to hit a low of $0.64 (around HK$5), wiping off $356.7 million (HK$2.8 billion) in market value, a report by news agency Reuters said. It regained ground to be off by 28%. The report added that so far, 19.04 million China Renaissance shares changed hands, the highest on record. 

Disappearance of top Chinese executives not uncommon

It is not uncommon for top executives in China to disappear when they are involved in any government investigation. In late 2021, Chinese President Xi Jinping launched a broad anti-corruption investigation targeting the country’s $60 trillion financial sector. The probe has implicated the investment banking community, ensnaring bankers from brokerages including Everbright Securities Co. and Guotai Junan Securities Co, Bloomberg reported. 

Bao Fan has been described as one of China’s best-connected bankers and his disappearance has fuelled speculations of a fresh clampdown on the finance industry. A former banker at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse Group AG, Fan became popular for being able to broker difficult mergers and acquisitions, including those that led to the formation of Didi Global Inc. and Meituan.

He started China Renaissance Holdings Ltd in 2005 and listed it in Hong Kong in 2018 after raising $346 million. The company is an active investor, backing many tech companies which grew to giants including NIO Inc. and WuXi AppTec Co. According to China Renaissance’s most recent interim report, the company had $7.1 billion ( 48.6 billion yuan) under its investment manager at the end of June last year. 

Before Fan, property developer Seazen Group Ltd reported that it was unable to reach or contact its vice-chairman Qu Dejun. According to a report by Mingtiandi on Monday (February 13), Dejun was cooperating with authorities concerning an investigation into the Dalian Wanda Group, where he had previously worked. 

(With inputs form agencies)

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