Fosun founder Guo Guangchang appears in public after police detention

Photos surfaced on social media Monday that appeared to show Guo speaking at the company’s annual meeting.

Fosun International 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.

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.

Mr Guo had denied earlier he was the target of a graft investigation.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said Guo’s involvement in the probe had yet to affect Fosun’s credit rating and outlook, but an “extended investigation” could negatively have an impact on the firm’s access to funding and any pending acquisitions.

An official at a Shanghai-based state-owned bank, who also did not want to be named, said Guo’s reappearance partly restored creditors’ confidence but they are highly likely to cut Fosun’s credit lines if they sense he himself is embroiled in any corruption probe. Though it eventually emerged he had been detained by authorities to assist with an investigation, the development led to Fosun – one of China’s largest private companies, with real estate investments in NY – to halt trading of its stock in Hong Kong.

Fosun Group listed in Hong Kong in 2007.

Fosun International’s Hong Kong-listed shares were suspended on Friday after reports of Guo’s disappearance late on Thursday triggered a sell-off in the firm’s overseas depository receipts in NY.

Mr Guo, 48, has amassed a business empire, involving industrial operations as well as a clutch of insurance, banking and asset management firms and now has a net worth of $5.7 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

After Delek issued its statement, the stock exchange said trading in the shares would resume at 0939 GMT. Guo made his last public appearance on Nov 26.

Guo was cited by a Shanghai court in August as being linked to the chairman of a state-owned supermarket chain who was sentenced to 18 years in prison on corruption charges.

CITIC Securities Co Ltd, China’s biggest brokerage, said on December 6 it was unable to contact two of its top executives following reports they had been asked by authorities to assist in an investigation.

“Investor concerns won’t be completely cleared”, until the company gives more information, Capital Securities Corp. analyst Yan Yongzheng said in Shanghai.