One of China’s top investment bankers has become unreachable, according to his company. China Renaissance, an investment bank and private equity firm based in Beijing, said in a Thursday filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange that it “has been unable to contact” Bao Fan, its chairman and CEO.
Shares of the company plunged as much as 50% in Hong Kong on Friday following the news. The stock closed down 28%. “The board is not aware of any information that indicates that Mr. Bao’s unavailability is or might be related to the business and/or operations of the group,” the firm said in the filing.
Bao is known as a veteran dealmaker in China’s tech industry. He helped broker the 2015 merger between two of the country’s leading food delivery services, Meituan and Dianping. Today, the combined company’s “super app” platform is ubiquitous in China.
