CHINESE billionaire Guo Guangchang, who is chairman of Fosun International Holdings Ltd., is assisting judiciary authorities with a probe, according to a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange by a firm he controls.

    Guo went missing Thursday, spurring speculation in domestic media that he was helping with a government investigation.

    Guo, who has called himself a student of Warren Buffett, has built a global empire spanning everything from insurance and holiday resorts such as Club Mediterranee SA to entertainment through dozens of deals over the past three years. Reports that Guo couldn’t be reached reverberated through markets, halting shares of many companies linked to his conglomerate.

    Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co., which is linked to Guo’s conglomerate, plans to resume the trading of its shares in Shanghai today after its suspension Friday, the company said in the filing Saturday. Guo will still be able to take part in major company decisions “via appropriate means,” according to the filing.

    Fosun International Ltd., the Hong Kong-listed unit that also halted trading Friday and will resume today, has US$2 billion in acquisitions announced this year that haven’t been completed.

    Guo, 48, has built an empire of industrial firms, alongside a host of insurance, banking and asset management firms. He has amassed a personal net worth of US$5.7 billion, according to Forbes.

    Born poor in a rural village in the eastern province of Zhejiang, Guo studied philosophy at the elite Fudan University in Shanghai before founding his first firm in 1992 alongside classmates as an information services company with 100,000 yuan (US$15,495) in capital.

    (SD-Agencies)