Billionaire Guo Guangchang appeared early Monday at an internal event for his Fosun Group conglomerate, say people who were there, three days after it first he was being held by authorities to help with an unspecified investigation.
Advertisement
Speaking on a conference call, chief executive Liang Xinjun reiterated that Chairman Guo Guanchang was able to take part in major decisions involving the company and that the firm’s operations remained normal. His disappearance prompted Fosun, which has a market capitalisation of about $14 billion, to suspend trading in its shares on Friday.
Caijing said Monday that Guo has “finalised” assisting in the inquiries and “returned home safely”.
Guo is a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a debating chamber that is part of the Communist Party-controlled governmental structure.
The company also resumed trading in its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, after suspending trading on Friday.
Guo, one of China’s widely-known entrepreneurs, suddenly went missing when he landed at Shanghai airport from Hong Kong wrapping up a business visit.
The chairman of Fosun, Club Med’s parent company and a Thomas Cook investor, has reappeared at the group’s annual meeting in Shanghai after being detained by police.
Chinas authorities have been clamping down on corruption in the business and finance sector and earlier this year a sting of top figures were found to have temporarily gone missing.
As the publicly traded subsidiary of one of China’s biggest private enterprises, Fosun International invests in more than 100 companies, including over 20 Shanghai- and Hong Kong-listed names.
Fosun Group has interests spanning media, insurance, real estate and retail.
Fosun and Mr Guo were named by a Chinese court in August in relation to a bribery case against Wang Zongnan, a former chairman of a state-owned food company who was jailed for 18 years. Last year, it paid 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) for Portugal’s biggest insurance company, Caixa Seguros. Wang said he could not provide more details as the investigation was “sensitive”.
After Guo China’s 17th richest person with a net worth of US$5.6 billion (HK$43.68 billion) discussed Fosun’s strategy and performance, he reportedly received a standing ovation. The company, Guotai Junan, hasn’t said anything since, and Yim’s whereabouts are still unknown.
Advertisement
He said when China’s banks were all state-owned that it had been hard to secure long-term loans.
About the Author
This author has not added a biography. Meanwhile Mike Dooley has contributed 32617 posts.
Click here
to view them.
