Billionaire head of China’s Fosun group ‘vanishes’

11 December 2015 06:30 pm - 0 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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AFP - The billionaire chairman of one of China’s biggest private-sector conglomerates, Club Med owner Fosun, has disappeared from public and is being questioned over a corruption inquiry, reports said, as shares in the group’s companies were suspended yesterday.
Guo Guangchang, 48, dubbed “China’s Warren Buffett”, has been out of contact since Thursday, respected business magazine Caixin reported on its website.
Police took Guo away at one of Shanghai’s airports, Caixin cited social media postings as saying, without making clear whether he was under investigation himself or assisting a probe.

“Many linked his disappearance to an investigation by the authorities,” the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Since coming to power Chinese President Xi Jinping has waged a much-publicised anti-corruption campaign that has ensnared a long list of officials, including the country’s former security chief Zhou Yongkang.

It has largely been confined to within the ruling Communist Party -- with critics saying it has been used for internal faction-fighting -- and Guo would be by far the highest-profile businessman to fall if he is brought down by it.
Chinese authorities have also launched wide-ranging probes into the financial sector following a market rout earlier this year when a debt-fuelled bubble -- encouraged by officials -- burst.

Guo is China’s 17th richest person with a net worth of $5.6 billion, according to Bloomberg News.
He is a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a debating chamber that is part of the Communist Party-controlled governmental structure.
The Fosun Group is one of the country’s biggest private companies and its flagship subsidiary, Fosun International, has net assets of 50 billion yuan ($7.8 billion).
Fosun has interests in property, finance, pharmaceuticals, steel and entertainment, and has been aggressively buying assets in Europe and North America.
It bought renowned French holiday company Club Med earlier this year and in April was part of a consortium that acquired Canadian entertainment juggernaut Cirque du Soleil.
It also has a stake in British-based tour operator Thomas Cook.
Fosun Group is due to hold its annual meeting on Monday, where Guo usually makes a speech, Chinese news portal Sohu said.
He was being questioned in connection with an investigation into former Shanghai vice mayor and director of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone Ai Baojun, it added.
The Communist Party’s internal anti-graft body announced last month Ai was under investigation for “severe disciplinary violations”, a euphemism for corruption.
Ai’s wife was reportedly investigated on suspicion of manipulating the stock market. She died of kidney failure a week before Ai fell.
Chinese media said previously that Ai was the highest level official in Shanghai -- widely seen as the power base of former leader Jiang Zemin -- to be brought down since Xi took over as Communist chief in 2012.

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Billionaire head of China’s Fosun group ‘vanishes’

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