Two Chinese business executives at companies controlled by the embattled financial conglomerate Zhongzhi have gone missing, according to statements by their respective firms.
The development comes just days after Chinese authorities launched a criminal investigation into the troubled shadow bank, one of China’s largest. Last week, Zhongzhi told its investors that it is “severely insolvent.”
Dalian My Gym Education Technology, a listed education firm, said it is unable to get in touch with its chairwoman Ma Hongying.
“The company is not sure of the specific reason why it cannot get in touch with Ms. Ma Hongying,” the company said in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Thursday.
On the same day, Xinjiang Tianshan Animal Husbandry Bio-engineering, which breeds cattle and dairy cows in the Xinjiang region, said it had lost touch with its chairman Ma Changshui.
Both companies are controlled by Zhongzhi’s investment units, and the missing executives have been connected with the conglomerate for years.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Two Chinese business executives at companies controlled by the embattled financial conglomerate Zhongzhi have gone missing, according to statements by their respective firms.
She was appointed as the chairwoman of Dalian My Gym Education Technology in 2022, a few years after Zhongzhi acquired control of the company through a share purchase deal.
It is considered part of China’s $3 trillion “shadow banking” industry, a sector that forms an important source of finance in the country.
That sparked protests by angry investors and prompted worries that a slump in China’s property market could trigger a wider financial crisis.
Zhongzhi apologized to its investors last week and acknowledged that its liquidity had been “exhausted.” It said that since the death of its founder, and the subsequent resignations of senior executives, its internal management had slid into a state of “failure.”
This year, more than a dozen top executives from sectors including technology, finance and real estate have gone missing, faced detention or been subjected to corruption probes.
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