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Bao Fan, one of China’s star tech dealmakers and founder of boutique investment bank China Renaissance, has been freed by Chinese authorities after nearly two and half years of detention.
Bao, a former Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse banker famed for wheeling and dealing on behalf of China’s big tech groups, was released recently, according to people familiar with the matter. The state’s charges against him were never made public.
Bao’s disappearance in 2023 sent chills through the country’s tech and finance sectors, and came amid a wide-ranging anti-corruption campaign led by President Xi Jinping.
The disappearance of its chief rainmaker also hit China Renaissance, which had been at the centre of China’s tech boom with Bao often leaning on his deep personal relationships with tech moguls to stitch together deals.
The Hong Kong-listed shares of China Renaissance jumped by 17 per cent on Friday afternoon, shortly after Chinese media outlet Caixin reported on Bao’s release.
China Renaissance first told its investors Bao had gone missing in February 2023, and subsequently stated he was “co-operating in an investigation”. But as the months dragged on, Chinese authorities did not make any public allegations against Bao or provide China Renaissance with further information.
Turmoil at the bank had initially started in September 2022 when the group’s president, Cong Lin, was called in by China’s securities regulator for a “supervisory discussion”. Within days Cong had exited key positions at China Renaissance’s securities unit and was later detained by Chinese authorities. His whereabouts remain unknown and he has not been publicly charged.
People close to Bao said they believed his detention was linked to Cong’s, who Bao hired from state-owned ICBC International in 2020.
A year after Bao’s disappearance, China Renaissance announced in February 2024 that Bao had resigned from all of his formal positions “for health reasons and to spend more time on his family affairs”. However, he was not freed from detention at that time.
China Renaissance is now led by Bao’s wife Hui Yin Ching. The bank has struggled since his exit and amid a cooling financing environment for tech start-ups in China. The group’s revenues last year were down to Rmb777mn ($108mn), roughly half their 2022 level.
Bao and his wife Hui could not be reached for comment.
China Renaissance on Friday said it would not comment on personal issues, noting that Bao is no longer involved in the group’s day-to-day management or operations.
Additional reporting by Zijing Wu in Hong Kong
