Fosun suspends share trades after chairman unreachable

View of the stand of Fosun Pharma, a subsidiary of Fosun International Ltd, during an exhibition in Wuhan city, Central China's Hubei province, October 20, 2015. [Photo / IC]

Hong Kong Stock Exchange listed Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co Ltd and Fosun International Limited, together with the latter's convertible bonds issued by its wholly owned subsidiary Logo Star Limited, halted trading Friday morning, after the company confirmed that their chairman Guo Guangchang could not be reached Thursday night.

The two companies wrote in the announcements that the trading halt was due to a pending release of an announcement containing inside information.

Meanwhile, all Fosun's subsidiaries listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen, as well as the companies in which Fosun holds stakes, all halted trading Friday morning, including Shanghai Yuyuan Tourist Mart Co Ltd, Nanjing Iron and Steel Co Ltd, Hainan Mining Co Ltd and etc.

So far it has not been confirmed whether Guo is under investigation or assisting in investigation.

Fosun has been quite active in terms of overseas investment in recent years. Yuyuan Tourist Mart Co Ltd, in which Fosun International holds 29.9 percent stake, acquired 100 percent stake of Hoshino Resorts Group's ski destination Resort Tomamu located in Japan's northernmost island Hokkaido. The acquisition costs nearly 18.36 billion Japanese yen ($148.7 million).

The company has been paying growing attention to Japan. In May last year, Fosun International acquired Japanese property management company IDERA Capital Management. Three months later, it bought an office building in Shinagawa of customs area of Tokyo and in December it bought another 23-storey office building in Shinagawa.

In early May this year, Fosun International bought 80 percent stake of US insurer Ironshore Inc. The company's interest in insurance business was manifested earlier by the 1-billion-euro ($1.1 bilion) acquisition of the insurance arm of Portuguese State bank Caixa Geral de Depositos SA at the beginning of 2015.

It also marched into entertainment and tourism industries, by acquiring French holiday group Club Mediterranee in March, purchasing a 25 percent stake in Cirque de Soleil in May and setting up joint venture with British travel group Thomas Cook one month later.