One of China’s biggest billionaires and tech banker ‘Bao Fan’ is missing from his company. The missing Bao Fan is the chairman of China Renaissance, an investment bank that offers funding to Chinese tech companies and startups. Earlier, Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, the owner of the Alibaba business chain, was similarly missing.
Shares in China Renaissance plunged as much as 30% after the company told the Hong Kong stock exchange it was ‘unable to contact Bao’. Meanwhile, the bank has not released any further information related to the disappearance.
Bao Fan, who is also the bank’s executive director, is a prominent figure in the Chinese tech industry and has played a key role in the growth of various Chinese internet startups. Bao Fan’s clients in China include Didi, Meituan, and leading e-commerce company JD.com, among many giant tech companies.
According to reports by financial news agency Case, no one has been able to contact the 52-year-old billionaire for three days.
Meanwhile, China has recently been cracking down on top financial institutions and tech giants. Authorities arrested Chinese-Canadian businessman Xiao Jianhua in 2017 and sentenced him to 13 years in prison last August on corruption charges. Xiao Jianhua was a close associate of the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party. Bao Fan’s disappearance also suggests that he was afraid of such a move.