sourcegraph
March 29, 2024

China Renaissance said on Sunday that its chief executive, Bao Fan, a prominent Chinese investment banker, was cooperating with the government investigation, weeks after the company announced it could not contact him.

exist record The company and the Hong Kong stock exchange said its board had “been aware that Mr. Bao is currently cooperating with ongoing investigations by certain authorities in the People’s Republic of China.”

The company said its operations continued as normal. It did not say where Mr Bao was or what he was supposed to cooperate with. Chinese media reported that the government asked Mr. Bao to assist in an investigation involving a former China Renaissance executive.

latest news follow company disclosure On February 16, Mr. Bao was “unable to be contacted”. The announcement sent the company’s share price plummeting, and the stock has yet to fully recover.

The disappearance of Mr. Bao, a major player in the development of China’s technology industry, has raised fresh concerns that Beijing may once again target Chinese companies and their operators. Under Xi Jinping, the Chinese government has been tightening its grip on the country’s economy and businesses.

The Chinese government briefly detained one of China’s richest men, Guo Guangchang, in 2015, and China-born billionaire Xiao Jianhua was arrested at his Hong Kong home two years later. Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma also briefly disappeared from public life after criticizing Chinese regulators in 2020.

Mr. Bao is an outstanding figure in China’s scientific and technological circles. Before founding China Renaissance in 2004, he worked at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse. He became an early dealmaker for Chinese Internet companies such as Alibaba and Tencent, which soared as the country’s economy opened up.

In recent years, as Mr. Xi has tightened his grip on the economy, Mr. Bao has adjusted his approach, echoing the rhetoric of the Chinese leader and working with a unit of a state-owned bank.



Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *