Bao Fan, chairman of China Renaissance Capital, may not be as simple as "missing contact".
A week after being confirmed missing, China Renaissance Capital issued an announcement on the evening of February 26 confirming that Bao Fan was currently cooperating with the investigation by Chinese authorities.
The company also reiterated in the announcement: "If any relevant Chinese authorities require the company to cooperate in accordance with the law, the company will cooperate with such investigations." ”
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In the domestic investment circle, Bao Fan's status is second only to Shen Nanpeng, managing partner of Sequoia Capital, and Zhang Lei, founder of Hillhouse Group, both belong to the "capital predators", the merger of companies such as Didi and Kuaidi, Meituan and Dianping, and the behind-the-scenes operators are all Bao Fan.
According to the data, as of June 30, 2022, the AUM of China Renaissance Capital's investment management business was about 49 billion yuan, and the investment companies included WuXi AppTec, NIO, Li Auto, Bloomage Biologics, Bubble Mart, Bilibili, etc.
Analysts believe that the investment circle and the state-owned financial circle have always been inextricably linked, and the investigation of Bao Fan shows that the recent intensifying financial anti-corruption storm has affected the investment circle.
"Bao Fan's investigation is not an individual matter, but an entire industry, and it is a matter of survival for investors and entrepreneurs." Some insiders told the media.
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Since the beginning of this year, the anti-corruption in the financial sector has advanced in depth.
On February 25, Li Xiukun, former Party Secretary and President of CCB Hebei Branch, was suspected of serious violations of discipline and law, voluntarily surrendered to the case, and is currently undergoing disciplinary review and supervision and investigation.
Previously, Lin Zhengyue, former secretary of the party committee and president of China CITIC Bank Kunming Branch, Wang Ye, former secretary of the party committee and president of China Construction Bank Shenzhen Branch, and many other bank cadres were "double-opened". Shen Renkang, former secretary of the party committee and chairman of Zheshang Bank, was investigated for serious violations of discipline and law...
In addition, on February 17 alone, the party secretaries of the two major central enterprises in the financial industry were dismissed, and Luo Xi will no longer serve as the party secretary of the Chinese Insurance Group; Liu Liange ceased to be the party secretary of the Bank of China.
On February 23, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection published an article on its official website entitled "Resolutely Winning the Protracted Battle against Corruption", in which "finance" was mentioned 16 times.
The article mentions that it is necessary to intensify the investigation and handling of new types of corruption and hidden corruption such as "shadow shareholders", "shadow companies", "revolving doors of politics and business", "early nesting" and "escape resignation", resolutely cut off the link between power and capital, and form a powerful deterrent to punish corruption in the financial and central enterprise fields.
In addition, the article also said that it is necessary to break the erroneous ideas such as "financial elitism", "money-only theory" and "Western alignment theory", rectify the hedonism and extravagance that overly pursue the "refinement" of life and "high-end" taste, rectify the "hidden rules" and unhealthy tendencies in the industry, eradicate the "broken window" effect, the mentality of "the law does not blame the public" and the mentality of "comparing the rotten", and constantly strengthen the dam in the financial and central enterprise fields to implement the spirit of the eight central regulations.
Once upon a time, finance belonged to the "three high industries": high salary, high building, and high threshold.
Last year, the annual salary of three executives of CITIC Securities exceeded 10 million, which attracted attention. According to the financial report, in 2021, the annual salaries of Ma Yao, Xue Jirui and Jin Jianhua will exceed 10 million yuan, and the salaries of chairman Zhang Youjun and general manager Yang Minghui will be 5.8539 million yuan and 9.9868 million yuan respectively.
In addition, the annual salary of Ping An Group's executives has also attracted much attention, such as Ma Mingzhe's total after-tax remuneration of 4.6184 million, Chen Xinxin's total after-tax remuneration of 9.675 million, and Yao Bo's total after-tax remuneration of 7.9659 million.
For example, Tian Huiyu, former president of China Merchants Bank, who was recently prosecuted, earned a salary of about 4.2 million yuan in 2021, more than six times the average salary of more than 100,000 employees of China Merchants Bank. In addition to salaries, there is also investment income obtained through insider information.
Needless to say, the headquarters of many financial institutions are majestic and magnificent. To enter such an institution to work, the threshold is naturally very high.
An article recently released by Shanghai Securities News by Hong Rong, MBA tutor of Shanghai Jiaotong University Advanced School of Finance and Shanghai Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Mentor, pointed out that most of the securities researchers and fund managers are high-caliber students who have come out of the ivory tower of well-known universities, influenced by Western investment theories, do not have a deep understanding of the mainland's national conditions, they do not follow the mass line, and they cannot see the ecology of the A-share market, but they hold the right to speak and influence the huge amount of money in the market, and have become a force that underestimates Chinese assets.
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Bao Fan, a prominent figure in the investment circle, is being investigated against the backdrop of the recent ongoing anti-corruption campaign in the financial sector, and this is by no means an isolated incident.
Some media speculated that Bao Fan's investigation may be related to the former president of China Renaissance Capital, Jungle, who was taken away in September 2022.
Jungle became President of China Renaissance Capital Holding Group on July 1, 2020, and concurrently serves as Chairman of China Renaissance Securities, a subsidiary of China Renaissance Capital, reporting directly to Bao Fan.
Prior to that, he worked in the ICBC system and became Chairman of ICBC International Holdings Limited in 2016.
According to multiple media reports, in 2016, the jungle and Bao Fan began to intersect. Shortly after Jungle arrived at ICBC International, in October 2017, China Renaissance Capital borrowed a US$200 million loan from ICBC Leasing. In September 2018, China Renaissance Capital repaid the loan in the same month after receiving financing from its Hong Kong IPO.
In 2020, Jungle left ICBC International to become President of China Renaissance Capital Holdings and Chairman of China Renaissance Securities. Caixin quoted sources as saying that the annual salary of Jungle joining China Renaissance Capital is as high as 10 million.
All indications are that Bao Fan was taken away, it may really not be that simple.