HONG KONG—Fosun Group on Sunday mentioned Chairman Guo Guangchang was in Shanghai and was helping the Chinese authorities with specified investigations.
Mr. Guo’s whereabouts experienced been unsure for times even as the organization on Friday issued a assertion signed by Mr. Guo that said he was currently being held in relationship with an inquiry but was capable to take part in “major matters” just before the corporation.
On Sunday Fosun stated the probe or probes have been about individual issues and not about the firm.
Liang Xinjun, vice chairman and main govt of Hong Kong-shown Fosun Global Ltd., the group’s flagship investment decision problem, said in a meeting call that authorities experienced been facilitating Mr. Guo’s participation in business determination producing, this kind of as through meeting phone calls.
“Assisting probes by judiciary authorities is a obligation of Chinese citizens,” Mr. Liang said on the phone. “These probes are mainly to support the investigation approach, not about problems at the organization.”
Mr. Liang, a single of the 4 co-founders of the organization, dodged a question from an investor about regardless of whether he experienced spoken to Mr. Guo himself after his disappearance.
Chinese investigators have broad powers to detain suspects and prospective witnesses even when they have not been accused of wrongdoing.
“Chairman Guo is a man of excellent knowledge,” explained Wang Qunbing, president of Fosun International, on the contact. ”He will actively help investigations and fulfill his obligation in a swift style.”
The firm had earlier explained Mr. Guo was envisioned to go to its yearly interior preparing assembly on Monday, but modified its tone on Sunday. Mr. Wang stated he and Mr. Liang would attend the preparing conference, but that the appearance of other directors would depend on their schedules.
Mr. Liang said the business is not in crisis manner, including that he and other individuals were doing work usually. He invested most time on the phone addressing the company’s funds and explained he had been actively communicating with bond holders, other traders and monetary institutions.
While Mr. Guo has assembled a skilled group of deputies, analysts say that like a lot of Chinese business owners he has retained more electricity for himself than is widespread in huge Western companies. That could make Fosun susceptible should one thing go incorrect, a level illustrated in investing Friday when a investing halt in its major business brought on offering in relevant shares and bonds. Several U.S.-shown Chinese companies in which Fosun has a stake, these kinds of as Sina Corp. , fell on Thursday and Friday.
Because a midyear inventory-industry crash uncovered weaknesses in China’s fiscal method, authorities have detained senior stockbrokers, fund managers and bankers from a handful of the country’s prime companies, declaring little about the development or conclusions of their investigations. About a dozen of the most-senior people at the greatest brokerage, Citic Securities Co. , have been held for questioning by authorities for months, and the firm suggests it is cooperating with the investigations.
Jitters are notably high in Shanghai, China’s largest town, where the biggest markets are dependent.
The Chinese Communist Party’s antigraft agency place a vice mayor in Shanghai under formal investigation very last thirty day period, then named specific local brokerages, insurers, a personal-equity organization and organization faculties as targets of its up coming inspections.
Publish to Wei Gu at wei.gu@wsj.com
