The Economic Observer, a well regarded financial publication, reported that Bao Fan — founder and CEO of Hong Kong-listed China Renaissance, a boutique investment bank -— was taken away on February 7 by officials from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in an investigation into suspected corporate bribery. It said, citing an unnamed source, that his detention was extended on May 7 for three months.
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. His February disappearance coincided with a sweeping anti-corruption crackdown launched by the ruling Communist Party into the financial sector, which has ensnared more than a dozen senior executives at China’s biggest financial institutions.