Two Disappearing Chairmen At Hong Kong Stock Exchange Underscore Investment

China’s stock investment universe has surely improved in the past decade. Yet the second disclosure in less than two weeks that a chairman of a mainland company listed at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange had disappeared underscores that investment risks still abound.  

The latest fiasco involves menswear maker Fujian Nuoqi, whose chairman Ding Hui was declared by the company to be “a missing person” on Friday, July 25. Trade in the stock was only suspended last Wednesday, July 23, without reason, after it had already lost half of its value from Friday, July 18.

Nuoqi, which went public at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange earlier this year, also on Friday shared knowledge of “news alleging that Mr. Ding had absconded. The Company would like to clarify that such news has not been verified at this moment.”

Earlier this month, there was also the spectacle of Shenzhen-based trade-center operator Hydoo International Holding on July 14 advising that the company hadn’t been able to contact its chairman “for over two weeks.”  

Trading in its shares was suspended on Wednesday, July 2. The company went public last October at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange,  with blue-chip cornerstone investors that included billionaire Lu Zhiqiang, Zhang Jindong and Fu Kwan, among other China business luminaries.

Hydoo disclosed on Wednesday, July 23, that Wong “is assisting the Authorities in providing certain information.”   Writing for Hydoo, executive director Huang Dehong said: “The Company is making attempts to seek more information regarding Mr. Wong’s situation (including whether the information required to be provided by Mr. Wong relates to the business operations of the Group) from the Authorities.”