According to his company, one of China's most well-known billionaire bankers has vanished.
China Renaissance Holdings stated in a market update on Thursday that its CEO, Bao Fan, had not been reachable in recent days.
Top tech companies Didi and Meituan are among Mr. Bao's clients. He is a well-known deal broker in China.
With his company's announcement, fears of a potential crackdown by Beijing on leaders in finance and technology have returned.
On Friday, the investment firm's shares plummeted after it informed shareholders that it had "been unable to contact Mr. Bao Fan.".
The board continued by stating that it was not aware of "any information that indicates that Mr. Bao's non-availability is or might be related to the business and/or operations of the group.".
China Renaissance referred the BBC to its notice to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange when queried further and provided no additional comments.
How long Mr. Bao had been missing was not made clear by the company. His staff had been unable to reach him for two days, according to sources cited by the Chinese business newswire Caixin.
The business wire also reported that Cong Lin, the company's president, had been detained by law enforcement last September due to his prior employment at the state-owned ICBC bank.
The disappearance of Mr. Bao, one of China's top tech investors, has once again brought to mind instances in which Chinese businessmen have vanished for unknown periods of time without explanation.
Forbes Magazine reports that over the past few years, at least six billionaires have vanished for extended periods of time following reported encounters with the Communist Party.
They were allegedly implicated in a number of corruption, tax, or other misconduct investigations.
The founder of the Fosun group, Guo Guangchang, known as the Warren Buffet of China, disappeared for a number of days in 2015.
After criticizing market regulators in remarks made toward the end of 2020, Alibaba founder Jack Ma also vanished from the public eye for three months. His digital payments company Ant Financial was scheduled to go public, making him the likely richest man in China.
Due to his execution of some of the largest mergers in the Chinese tech sector, including those of the food delivery platforms Meituan and Dianping and the ride-hailing apps Didi and Kuaidi, Mr. Bao is regarded as a major player.
He started China Renaissance in 2005, and it has since developed into a significant financial organization in China.
The bank served as an advisor for the initial public offerings of JD.com and Kuashou, two e-commerce platforms, as well as Didi's 2021 NYSE listing.
