Beijing: One of China’s top entrepreneurs, the chairman of the conglomerate that owns Club Med and other businesses in Europe and the United States, is missing, a news report said on Friday, a possible sign that an anti-corruption campaign is widening beyond state companies.
Fosun International employees were unable to contact Guo Guangchang after midday Thursday, the magazine Caixin said on its website. It cited messages on social media that Guo was last seen with police at an airport in Shanghai.
China is in the midst of a three-year-old anti-graft crackdown led by President Xi Jinping that has snared dozens of executives at state-owned companies in oil and other industries. A court cited Guo in August as being linked to a supermarket chain chairman who was jailed for corruption.
A series of figures in China’s securities industry have disappeared or been detained since August after authorities launched an investigation following a plunge in Chinese share prices in June.
Fosun, China’s biggest privately owned conglomerate, and its pharmaceutical unit suspended trading of their shares on Friday in Hong Kong. They cited the pending release of an announcement with “inside information.” Phone calls to Fosun’s media and investor relations departments weren’t answered.
If Guo is under investigation, that suggests authorities are extending scrutiny beyond state-owned firms, increasing uncertainty for investors, said Ronald Wan, CEO of inves-tment banking at Partners Capital International.
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