Jim Armitage: Guo Guangchang's disappearance shows it's not worth investing in China
Anyone betting on a resurgence of China’s economy should have a rethink.
The fact that this is a country where its most famous executives can be made to disappear for days on end while being questioned by the police should make investors seriously concerned about the risk of backing private companies there.
Such disappearances have become commonplace since the stock market crashed over the summer, with stockbrokers, fund managers and bankers held in some cases for months.
Guo Guangchang’s disappearance puts those cases in the shade: in the trading hub of Shanghai, he is a business celebrity — the closest thing China has to Warren Buffett.
As locals say, that the authorities can “disappear” even him is akin to an earthquake.
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Particularly as Guo has played the politics game, trying to remain close to China’s leaders and taking official roles.
His disappearance and surreal, silent reappearance after this morning’s Fosun annual meeting will drive more entrepreneurs out of the country in search of safer homes for their families and wealth.
A gift to London’s luxury property market, maybe, but bad for China.