Chairman of '11jo Asset Management' Suddenly Missing... Unable to Return, Wife Takes Over Presidency

China Renaissance, Former Chairman Bao Fan, Missing from Public for 1 Year 8 Months

The wife of the chairman of a Chinese investment bank, who suddenly disappeared 1 year and 8 months ago, has been appointed as the new chairman of the company. Cases of Chinese businesspeople suddenly going missing continue to occur.

According to the Hong Kong South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 10th (local time), China Renaissance, a Chinese investment bank, announced in a statement last night that Xu Yanqing (54), the wife of former chairman Bao Fan (54), whose whereabouts have been unknown, has been appointed as the company's new chairman.

President Bao Pan of China Renaissance, a Chinese investment bank.
[Photo by Bai]

China Renaissance stated that Xu Yanqing will be responsible for the company's strategic planning, lead its entry into emerging markets, and manage investor relations (IR), according to SCMP. China Renaissance said, "Chairman Xu was closely involved in the founding of Renaissance and played a key role in driving the company's growth," adding, "She has witnessed the journey to today's success."

Xu Yanqing's appointment as chairman comes 1 year and 8 months after Bao Fan disappeared from public view and 8 months after he resigned as chairman.

Previously, Bao Fan worked for several years at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse, gaining experience in Wall Street investment banking before founding China Renaissance in 2005. Since then, he successfully led initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions for major companies such as Tencent, Alibaba, Didi Chuxing, and Meituan, becoming a giant in China's investment industry.

Amid the sudden disappearance of Bao Pan (54), chairman of a Chinese investment bank, it has been reported that his wife has been appointed as the new chairman of the company 1 year and 8 months after his disappearance.
[Photo source: Screenshot from China Renaissance homepage]

He became one of the most influential financiers in China due to his talent for closing complex deals and identifying emerging startups. In 2018, during Alibaba's IPO, he persuaded founder Jack Ma to become a cornerstone investor. After entering the private equity market, he managed assets exceeding $8.8 billion (approximately 11.8184 trillion KRW) by the end of 2020.

However, this entire legend began to shake when he suddenly disappeared in February last year. Initially, China Renaissance said they could not contact Bao Fan, and ten days after his disappearance, they issued a statement saying he was "cooperating with an investigation by certain authorities in mainland China."

Following the disappearance of former chairman Bao Fan and sluggish transactions amid China's economic slowdown, China Renaissance suffered a sharp decline in sales and expanded losses. The company's staff in its China and Hong Kong offices, once numbering around 700, reportedly decreased to one-third.

This is not the first time a company chairman has suddenly disappeared in China. In February 2020, real estate tycoon Ren Zhiqiang, who publicly criticized the government's COVID-19 response, went missing and was sentenced to 18 years in prison for disciplinary and legal violations. Wu Xiaohui, former chairman of Anbang Insurance Group, also disappeared in June 2017 and was sentenced to a heavy prison term by the court on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and misappropriation.