Fan Bao, founder, Chairman and CEO of China Renaissance Group, an investment bank led by one of the country’s most famed rainmakers, holds a news conference on its IPO in Hong Kong, China September 13, 2018. REUTERS/Bobby Yipsaw its shares plummet by as much as 50% on Friday after the boutique investment bank said it is unable to contact Chairman and Chief Executive Bao Fan.
Bao's disappearance becomes the latest in a series of cases of high-profile Chinese executives going missing with little explanation - especially during a sweeping anti-corruption campaign spearheaded by President Xi Jinping. In 2015 alone, at least five executives became unreachable without prior notice to their companies, including Fosun Group Chairman Guo Guangchang, who Fosun later said was assisting with investigations regarding a personal matter.
"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 which is continuing normally," the mainland China-based bank said in a late-Thursday filing.