China Renaissance stocks plummet after it says founder Bao Fan is missing

BEIJING — Prominent Chinese investment banker Bao Fan is missing, his company China Renaissance Holdings said late Thursday.

China Renaissance said it “has been unable to contact Mr. Bao Fan,” according to a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The Beijing-based fund manager and investment bank is operating normally, the filing said.

Bao is the controlling shareholder of the company, as well as chairman, executive director and CEO. He did not immediately respond when approached by CNBC about the news.

Shares of China Renaissance plunged more than 20% during Hong Kong trading on Friday.

Alibaba-affiliated Ant Group was one of three major investors in China Renaissance ahead of its own listing in Hong Kong in 2018. In late 2020, Chinese authorities abruptly shelved Ant’s plans for a massive IPO.

China Renaissance has played an important role in China’s internet technology world for the past decade. The investment bank advised Meituan and Dianping on their massive merger and subsequent IPO in Hong Kong.

China Renaissance also served as an advisor on the merger that became Didi, and was an underwriter for the ride-hailing giant’s IPO in the US in June 2021.

Chinese authorities began tightening their oversight of foreign listings that summer.

Days after Didi’s IPO, authorities announced a cybersecurity investigation into the company, halting new user registrations. The company was delisted later that year. Didi said last month it had been allowed to register new users again.

Despite increased caution regarding investments in China following Didi’s IPO, China Renaissance’s Huaxing Growth Capital announced in October 2021 that it had received nearly $550 million in fund closing.

Chinese financial news outlet Caixin pointed out that Bao’s disappearance followed the investigation into Cong Lin.

Cong was the chairman of Huajing Securities, a subsidiary of China Renaissance, until earlier this month, according to business data database Tianyancha.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission office in Shanghai said in September that Huajing violated securities law requirements related to corporate governance and asked Cong to cooperate with an investigation.

China Renaissance’s filing about Bao Fan did not mention the research, and a representative did not share additional information when contacted.

The company’s official WeChat account lists announcements from this week and last month with quotes from Bao. A post from early December shows Bao attending a recent event in Beijing.