The magazine Caixin said on its website that Fosun International employees have been unable to contact Guo Guangchang since midday Thursday.
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There were unconfirmed reports on Chinese social media that Guo was detained by police at a Shanghai airport.
His business empire now ranges from Portuguese insurer Fidelidade – an acquisition closed in January this year – to slices of theater company Cirque du Soleil and holiday operator Thomas Cook.
Phone calls to Fosun were left unanswered on Friday and the company beefed up security at its Shanghai headquarters.
The two companies wrote in the announcements that the trading halt was due to a pending release of an announcement containing inside information.
The question of Guo’s whereabouts had come to the attention of banking supervisors in Europe, where Fosun is in a battle to buy Anglo-German lender BHF Kleinwort Benson, people familiar with the regulatory process said. He has a net worth of $7 billion and is the 11th richest man in the country, according to Forbes.
Shares in two Hong Kong companies linked to a Chinese conglomerate were halted on Friday after its chairman was reported to be missing. The Chinese authorities are investigating company officers, including its president, Mr Cheng Boming, for an insider trading case.
It later confirmed: “After making enquiries, the company understands that Mr Guo is now assisting in certain investigations carried out by Mainland judiciary authorities”.
Fosun Group is one of China’s largest private conglomerates.
The company statement did not clarify whether Guo was the subject of the investigation, or whether he was helping with investigations into others. The court stated that Fosun sold luxury properties to Wang and his family members at a steep discount, and that “Wang took advantage of his position and delivered benefits to Fosun”. They rose further late in November after it reported its first pretax profit for five years and reiterated that it will soon return to paying dividends. Patrick Zhong, Fosun Group’s senior managing director and head of global investment, spoke at a recent conference in Shanghai about arranging a dinner for “my friend George Osborne”, the United Kingdom chancellor of the Exchequer, during his recent visit to China.
The Chinese government has launched a wide-ranging anti-corruption campaign.
He denied earlier he was the target of a graft investigation.
The billionaire chairman of China’s Fosun Group is “unreachable”, according to respected Chinese finance magazine Caixin.
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It isn’t known how close Mr. Guo’s ties to the party are; he has said the party is represented within Fosun.
