A Chinese billionaire who was reported missing has been caught up in an investigation by Chinese officials, his company said Friday.
Advertisement
Xinhua, China’s state-owned media outlet, reported, ‘The trading suspension comes after the news broke on Thursday afternoon that Guo had gone AWOL.
China’s biggest private conglomerate has suspended trading of its shares on Friday, Dec 11, 2015 following a report by a business magazine that its chairman Guo Guangchang, one of the country’s most prominent business leaders, is missing.
The billionaire chairman of China’s Fosun Group is “unreachable”, according to respected Chinese finance magazine Caixin.
A Fosun International spokesman told Reuters the company was operating as normal and declined to comment on the chairman’s whereabouts. “He is not being investigated himself”.
For months, dark rumours have swirled that he might get swept up in a continuing anti-corruption crackdown being conducted by President Xi Jinping.
Trading in the shares of Fosun International, the group’s main subsidiary, was halted “pending the release of an announcement containing inside information”, it said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange, where it is listed, as did another unit, Fosun Pharmaceutical.
Fosun Group has interests spanning retail, insurance, real estate and media.
While the probes have largely been focused on corruption in the party, they have boiled over into investigations of the financial sector following the collapse of a bubble earlier this year.
The Shanghai court said that Wang had abused his power and pursued profit with Fosun Group, and that Guo had sold two villas to Wang’s parents for below their market price – allegations denied by Guo.
The paper also said there was speculation about whether Guo might face charges.
Guangchang is a student of Buffett’s investment philosophy, pursuing insurance companies as a base for his investments.
Fosun has made a number of worldwide acquisitions recently and is a shareholder in global media companies such as Forbes.
Mr. Guo, 48, has built an empire of industrial companies, alongside a host of insurance, banking and asset management firms.
Since it was founded in 1992 by Guo and three fellow graduates of Shanghai’s Fudan University as a startup with initial capital of $4,000, Fosun has spent more than $30 billion in buying foreign assets. Its portfolio includes everything from French resort chain Club Méditerranée and Greek jeweler Folli Follie to property in the U.S., including One Chase Manhattan Plaza in NY.
Advertisement
Guo in the past has been linked to Wang Zongnan, the head of a state-owned retailer who was sentenced this year to 18 years in prison for embezzlement and bribery.
