Bao Fan resigns from China Renaissance Holdings following 2023 investigation, disappearance

Chinese financier Bao Fan has resigned as chairman and CEO of investment bank China Renaissance Holdings, citing "health reasons" and the desire to "spend more time with family", an exchange filing on Friday showed.

The 53-year-old has been involved in an unspecified investigation by mainland authorities since February 2023. The highly influential deal maker in the tech industry suddenly disappeared, causing the company's shares to tumble after he became "uncontactable".

Bao had no disagreement with the board and "there is no other matter relating to his resignation that needs to be brought to the attention of the shareholders of the company", the filing said.

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China Renaissance is one of the largest investment banks in China, with more than 400 employees in Shanghai, Hong Kong and New York.

People walk past a China Renaissance office in Beijing on February 17, 2023. Photo: AP alt=People walk past a China Renaissance office in Beijing on February 17, 2023. Photo: AP>

The resignation went into effect on Friday.

"The Board expresses its deep gratitude for Mr. Bao's efforts and dedication to the company during the tenure of his service," the company said in the filing.

Xie Yijing, the co-founder of the group who has been acting CEO since October, has been appointed as the chairman and CEO. He will also take over Bao's roles as the chairman of the nomination committee and the executive committee, as well as a member of the remuneration committee, the filing said.

A Shanghai native, Bao worked for Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse in London, New York and Hong Kong before striking out on his own in 2005 to establish China Renaissance.

He took the firm public in 2018, naming it Huaxing in Chinese in a nod to his belief that China is in a period of its cultural, political and economic renaissance.

China Renaissance helped introduce many of China's largest and best-known technology start-ups to the capital markets of Hong Kong and New York, including the mergers of Didi and Kuaidi to create Didi-Chuxing, Meituan and Dianping, Ctrip's takeover of Qunar to create Trip.com, 58.com and Ganji.com.

Bao's unexplained investigation came amid President Xi Jinping's broad anti-corruption probe, launched in late 2021 to target the nation's US$60 trillion financial sector. Dozens of officials have been brought down and more than 30 state-owned firms are being investigated, including five financial firms, China's anti-corruption body said in April 2023.

Similarly, Charles Wang Zhonghe, chairman of investment banking for China at Nomura International (Hong Kong) had been told he cannot leave mainland China. The action was reportedly related to the investigation with Bao.

In a situation reminiscent of Bao's unexplained detention, Chen Shaojie, the founder and CEO of Tencent Holdings-backed Douyu International Holdings, was held "incommunicado" by Chinese authorities for weeks last year, according to local media reports.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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