Missing Chinese dealmaker Bao Fan casts chill across tech sector
In May 2021, a group of Chinese banks agreed to lend $300mn to investment bank China Renaissance with a condition: if Bao Fan, the company’s well-known founder, ceased to be its largest shareholder or was no longer chair of the board they could demand early repayment.
Nearly two years later, lawyers may soon be poring over that clause. The disappearance of Bao last week, announced in a company filing, has set on edge the country’s vast tech industry that the dealmaker helped to build.
The fate of Bao and his company, which has for years been at the heart of financing Chinese tech, is a pivotal test of Beijing’s stance on the industry. A two-year government crackdown has already sidelined Alibaba chief Jack Ma, decimated the vast for-profit education industry and hit investments globally.
“The question is — is it going to spread out?” said Desmond Shum, author of Red Roulette, a memoir on working in Chinese finance. “For the industry it’s a very, very scary moment”.
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For Shum, the situation was at a “crossroads”, and it was unclear whether the government was sending a message to the tech industry or the incident arose from “bureaucratic sensitivities” related to Cong.
“Anybody in the industry will basically stand off,” he said. “If I’m in the industry I would leave the country.”
ft.com |
