27.02.2023
Bao Fan, the founder of Huaxing Capital, lost contact earlier this month, arousing the attention of China’s financial and technology industries. The company issued an announcement on the 26th that Bao Fan is currently cooperating with relevant Chinese authorities to investigate.
(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) Huaxing Capital, a Chinese financial group listed in Hong Kong, issued an announcement on the evening of the 26th, stating that its chairman and CEO Bao Fan is currently cooperating with the investigation of relevant state agencies, and once again stated that its company’s business All operations are normal.
However, Huaxing Capital did not disclose other relevant information about the investigation except that “if any relevant Chinese authority requires the company to cooperate in accordance with the law, the company will cooperate with investigations in such places.”
On the 16th of this month, it was reported that Bao Fan had lost contact. Huaxing Capital issued an announcement at the time saying that it was temporarily unable to get in touch with Bao Fan, causing investors and the market to worry, and the stock price plummeted by nearly 30%. Prior to this, some insiders in the company speculated that the incident might be related to the investigation by the government of Cong Cong, the former president and former ICBC International chairman, in September last year.
In the past two years, China has launched a series of crackdowns on technology companies and purged corporate executives. Bao Fan’s disappearance is also the latest incident since China launched an anti-corruption campaign.
Li Nan, a professor of finance at Shanghai Jiaotong University, said, “The experience of Huaxing Capital highlights the key person risk of some Chinese companies.” This risk refers to the company’s over-reliance on a certain key person. “In the past few years, a number of Chinese financial institutions have risen rapidly with the efforts of one or two managers, and this has also made these companies particularly vulnerable to any negative news related to managers getting into trouble,” he said. “.
The company logo outside the office of Huaxing Capital in Beijing
Huaxing Capital was established in 2005. Its business scope covers private equity financing, mergers and acquisitions, investment management and investment banking, securities and wealth management, etc. It has offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and New York, with nearly 700 employees.
The 52-year-old Bao Fan was selected as one of the top 50 most influential people in the world by “Bloomberg Markets” in 2015. Before founding Huaxing Capital, he worked in Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse successively. experience. Known as the “rainmaker” of China’s technology industry, Bao Fan has participated in many well-known cases in the industry, including mergers and acquisitions of Didi and Kuaidi, Meituan and Dianping, and JD.com’s IPO.
(comprehensive report)
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