China’s Warren Buffett Guo Guangchang Is MIA

According to a report from Chinese Caixin website.Guo, the founder and chairman of the Shanghai-based Fosun International, has not been heard from since Thursday afternoon in China.

The media reports raised fears that Guo had become the latest victim in China’s deepening anti-corruption probe, and triggered share suspensions on Friday by listed companies affiliated to Fosun, including Hong Kong-listed Fosun International.

Fosun’s shares were suspended from trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Friday morning (11 December), amid speculation that Guo was subject to an investigation by anti-corruption officials.

Born poor in a rural village in the southeastern province of Zhejiang, Guo studied philosophy at the elite Fudan University in Shanghai before founding his first firm in 1992 alongside classmates as an information services company with 100,000 yuan (£10,180) in capital.

The Fosun conglomerate that he heads has interests in the pharmaceutical industry, real estate, banking, asset management, insurance, steel, mining and retailing, and is one of China’s leading foreign investors.

Fosun Group later issued an official statement saying that the group has never conducted any improper business with Shanghai Friendship Group. The private conglomerate models itself on Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, buying up insurance companies and investing the premium income in other assets.

Executives of the company last contacted Guo in Shanghai, the sources said.

Asian credits widened today in quiet trading, with Fosun’s USA dollar bonds selling off on the news that its chairman has gone missing.

Zhang Xun, president of the Agricultural Bank of China, and well-known fund manager Xu Xiang have also been detained, Chinese state media have reported.

Fiscal magazine Caixin stated that staff at Fosun had not been able to make contact with Mr Guo since Thursday day.

Mr Guo is one of China’s most recognisable investors at home and overseas with a fortune of $US7.8 billion, according to the latest Hurun rich list.

Guo owns 45.84 percent of Fosun International Ltd., a Hong Kong-listed subsidiary of Fosun Group.

Mr Guo was named by a Chinese court in August this year during the bribery case against Wang Zongnan, former chairman of state-owned Bright Food Group Co, who was sentenced to 18 years in jail. Communist Party’s internal anti-graft body said last month Ai was under investigation for “severe disciplinary violations”, a euphemism for corruption.

Citic Securities, the country’s biggest brokerage firm, said Sunday it was “unable to get in touch” with two top executives, Chen Jun and Yan Jianlin.