The Chinese billionaire chairman of investment bank China Renaissance is missing, the firm said, sending company shares falling in Hong Kong on Friday.
Bao Fan, who is also the bank’s executive director, is a major figure in the Chinese tech industry and has played a key role in the emergence of various domestic Internet startups.
“The company has been unable to contact Mr. Bao,” China Renaissance told the Hong Kong stock exchange without providing further details.
Shares in the firm fell as much as 30 percent after the statement.
The 52-year-old dealmaker had been unreachable for two days as of Thursday evening, according to financial news outlet Kexon.
China Renaissance was not immediately available for comment when contacted by JEE News.
Founded in 2005, the group has overseen the IPOs of several domestic Internet companies, including leading e-commerce firm JD.com.
Bao also facilitated a blockbuster merger in 2015 between giant ride-hailing firm Didi and its then arch-rival, Kuaidi Dache.
The China Renaissance case is reminiscent of a pattern of investigations against the country’s top financiers in recent years.
In 2017, Chinese-Canadian businessman Xiao Jianhua was arrested by mainland authorities and sentenced to 13 years in prison last August on corruption charges.
The billionaire, known to have close ties to top Chinese Communist Party leaders, was reportedly abducted from a Hong Kong hotel room by plainclothes Beijing policemen.
At the time of his arrest, Zhao was one of China’s richest men, with an estimated fortune of $6 billion.
According to JEE News, China Renaissance President Kang Lin was detained last September after authorities began investigating his work at state-run bank ICBC’s financial leasing unit.
