Xi Jinping's Pursuit Of Total Control In China Sparks Fears Of Crackdown As Investment Banker Goes Missing

One of China’s top most high-profile investment bankers has gone missing. 

What Happened: China Renaissance Holdings Ltd CSCHF, in a market update on Thursday, said it had yet to be able to reach its chief executive Bao Fan in recent days.

Bao’s disappearance renewed concerns of a potential Beijing crackdown on business and tech leaders amid President Xi Jinping's sweeping anti-corruption campaign. It is also one of the latest in a series of cases of top Chinese executives going missing without apparent explanation. 

See Also: Feeling the Love: Chinese Tech Giants Catch ChatGPT Fever

Bao is a leading Chinese deal broker whose clients include top tech giants, including Didi and Meituan.

The company, in a notice to the stock market, said it had “been unable to contact Mr Bao Fan.”

“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 China-based bank said in a late-Thursday filing.

Although the company did not specify for how long Bao had been missing, a Chinese business newswire Caixin, citing sources, said the staff had not been able to contact him for two days.

Price Action: As the market opened on Friday, Hong Kong-listed shares of China Renaissance Holdings plummeted as much as 50% to hit a record low of HK$5, wiping off HK$2.8 billion in market value. However, it recovered early losses and was trading 26.5% lower during the afternoon session on Friday. 

Check out more of Benzinga’s Europe and Asia coverage by following this link.

Read Next: Putin Sourcing Chips, Technology For Military Use From Iran, North Korea, China: US Expresses Concern