Chairman of Club Med’s parent reappears after police probe

Mr Guo’s absence makes him the most high-profile of a string of senior executives to have gone missing temporarily and could be seen as a strong sign that Beijing is ramping up scrutiny of China’s financial sector. A court cited Guo in August as being linked to a supermarket chain chairman who was jailed for corruption.

Shares of Fosun International and its controlled companies were suspended in Hong Kong and mainland on Friday after it was confirmed Guo as helping a judiciary investigation.

Employees who answered the phone Monday at Fosun’s headquarters said no one was working in the public relations department. Shares of its Fosun International Ltd arm and other listed units slumped on Monday after a trading halt was lifted late Friday, though its bonds rose. “It is the responsibility of any Chinese citizen to assist a government investigation”, he said.

0656) announced on Friday that Guo Guangchang, Chairman of the company, is assisting authorities with a current investigation into corruption.

Fosun Group’s interest is diversified, ranging from media and insurance to real estate and retail. Mr Guo’s conglomerate spent US$5.7 billion over two years acquiring insurance assets, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In 2013, it bought the landmark One Chase Manhattan Plaza skyscraper.

The 48-year-old Guo, known as China’s Warren Buffett, is the 11th richest man in China with net worth of $6.9 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

An extended investigation of Guo, if it happened, could affect Fosun’s access to funding and acquisitions the firm is yet to complete, Mr Lu wrote. Both Wang and Ai are said to have links with Jiang.

“This is how some entrepreneurs get into trouble once they have an anti-corruption campaign”, said Zhang.

Shares of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical also lost 3.8 per cent in Shanghai. “The operations of the company remain normal”, Fosun International said.

“We continue to look for more fiscal and monetary easing to support growth”. “A politician, or maybe a group of people”.

In other cases, China’s biggest brokerage, state-owned Citic Securities Co., said last week it could not contact two of its top investment bankers. Once individuals go missing, there’s no telling when they’ll resurface; if they do, there’s often scant information about what happened.