Bao Fan has really come back.
There may still be many questions without answers, but the important thing is that Bao Fan is back.
On August 8th, Caixin, citing "multiple independent sources", reported that Bao Fan, the founder of China Renaissance who had been taken away by relevant authorities for investigation and had been out of the public eye for a long time, had "come out". However, the lawyer representing Bao Fan's case refused to comment on any information related to the case. China Renaissance responded to Caixin on the same day, stating that Bao Fan is no longer involved in the group's daily management and operations, and his personal life dynamics fall into the category of private affairs. Through further confirmation from relevant sources, China Venture Capital learned that Bao Fan has indeed "finished assisting in the investigation".
From February 26, 2023, when the board of China Renaissance officially confirmed to the public that Bao Fan was assisting in the investigation by relevant Chinese authorities, to August 8th when multiple sources confirmed that Bao Fan had "finished assisting in the investigation", a full 894 days had passed.
During these 894 days, there were at least three rumors that Bao Fan "was coming back". The first time was at the end of March 2023. A so - called source told a reporter from Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily that Bao Fan was about to be "released" and claimed that "the information was accurate". However, later facts proved that the so - called "Bao Fan is about to be released" from this source was probably deduced based on the detention period. According to the Supervision Law, when the supervision authority takes detention measures against the person under investigation, it generally does not exceed three months. If an extension is needed, it can be extended once, and the extended period cannot exceed three months.
The second time was in February 2024. At that time, China Renaissance issued an announcement stating that Bao Fan resigned from his positions as executive director, chairman of the board, CEO, chairman of the nomination committee, and chairman of the executive committee of the company "due to health reasons and the desire to spend more time on family affairs", without mentioning whether he was still assisting in the investigation. However, later facts proved that this series of actions were necessary for the company "China Renaissance" to move forward. According to the disclosures of China Renaissance on February 16, February 26, and August 9, 2023, affected by the Bao Fan incident, the fundraising of the fourth - phase RMB and US dollar funds of China Renaissance New Economy Fund ended ahead of schedule, and the investment period also ended early, with no new project investments. According to China Renaissance's 2024 financial report, its asset management scale in the first half of 2024 was 34.8 billion yuan, of which the asset management scale generating management fees was approximately 17.4 billion yuan.
The third time was in September 2024. China Renaissance announced that it would resume trading on September 9, 2024. Meanwhile, Bao Fan's wife, Xu Yanqing, would take over as a non - executive director of the company. People speculated that the storm might be "coming to an end", and Xu Yanqing's appointment might be a prelude to Bao Fan's return. However, later facts proved that this series of actions actually stemmed from the needs of the company "China Renaissance". In October, Xu Yanqing was promoted to chairperson of the board. In November, Wang Lixing became the new CEO, and China Renaissance officially completed the iteration of its management. In an internal letter issued at the end of the year, Wang Lixing clearly stated, "Let's start a second - round entrepreneurship together and build a brand - new China Renaissance 2.0."
During this period, Bao Fan has not made any public statements, but you can always see people periodically thinking about "when exactly will Bao Fan come back". The joke that Zhang Ying, Wang Ran, and Bao Fan are called the "Three Friends of Winter" is repeatedly mentioned, which always reminds people, intentionally or unintentionally, of what kind of "tides" or "turmoil" this generation of venture capitalists has experienced. Even the "de - Bao Fan" plan, which is essentially an "internal company matter", has become a classic topic in the past two and a half years. People believe that the entire process of "de - Bao Fan" will become a dividing line in the history of Chinese venture capital. Looking forward and backward from this line, you can always see some changes worth pondering.
For example, Zhang Ying seems to be such an example. In the past 894 days, Zhang Ying still spent a lot of time hiking and cycling, living a life of "shooting, fishing, and camping every day". He is the one at the top of the venture capital pyramid who "prefers to be close to youth culture". However, Zhang Ying also talks more and more about stances, positions, and "Four Important Judgments for 2025". He picked up the public - welfare project for entrepreneurs, "Jingwei Consultation", and seriously discussed "the relationship between enterprises and society".
For example, Fu Jixun also seems to be such an example. In the past 894 days, GGV announced the separation of its US and Asian businesses. GGV Capital no longer uses the English brand "GGV", which had been in use for 18 years. Then, it took more than a year to readjust the "personnel and product structure". After a smooth transition, Fu Jixun "stepped forward" again, returned to the public eye, and started to accept interviews and participate in round - table discussions.
In fact, China Renaissance proposed the "de - Bao Fan" concept as early as 2015. At a summary meeting in the spring of that year, Bao Fan, who had just helped JD.com complete an epic IPO, had unprecedented industry prestige, and was capable of ending the "taxi subsidy war" in 22 days, suddenly calmed down and asked a question: "Look at Goldman Sachs today. Where are Mr. Goldman and Mr. Sachs? None of their descendants are in the company, but it's very successful. That's my pursuit."
Bao Fan even took the initiative to promote the "de - Bao Fan" concept. In January 2017, taking the opportunity of moving to the Pacific Century Place in Sanlitun, Beijing, China Renaissance held a media meeting with the nature of a thank - you banquet. At the meeting, someone directly asked Bao Fan how he viewed the "de - Bao Fan" concept of China Renaissance proposed on Zhihu. Bao Fan's answer at that time was, "The so - called 'de - Bao Fan' means that my circle of friends will be smaller in the future, while the circles of friends of our partners will be larger. I hope that when I and my circle of friends leave the stage, China Renaissance can continue to carry on."
The "de - Bao Fan" plan is of course urgent, accelerated by a large amount of uncertainty. However, "Bao Fan" has also been highly generalized and abstracted into a symbol in the discussions over the past 894 days. If we regard Bao Fan as an entrepreneur and China Renaissance as a startup company, from the perspective of a startup company, the whole process is actually quite "orderly".
In the past 894 days, China Renaissance has completed many "separations" in a standard way. For example, in March 2024, China Renaissance signed a settlement agreement with the fourth - phase RMB fund of China Renaissance New Economy Fund (hereinafter referred to as the "Fourth - Phase Fund"). The content of the agreement is that China Renaissance will acquire the relevant portfolio interests of the Fourth - Phase Fund at a consideration of RMB 791 million and waive the interest of RMB 117 million payable by the Fourth - Phase Fund to China Renaissance.
The parties to the settlement agreement are the listed company and the fund company. In fact, the two parties in the "settlement" are GP China Renaissance and the LPs of its fourth - phase RMB fund. The "relevant portfolio" of the Fourth - Phase Fund includes eight companies such as Dreame, Hive Energy, and Chen Xianggui Noodles. Before April 2022, the total investment amount in the above - mentioned asset portfolio was 1.648 billion yuan. The announcement shows that as of December 31, 2023, the market value of the relevant equity of these eight companies was approximately RMB 1.75 billion, as determined by an independent asset appraiser.
The total valuation of the eight companies has basically remained unchanged compared with two years ago when China Renaissance made the investment. However, considering the overall market conditions in the past 894 days, it is definitely not bad. As of June 30, 2023, the investment amount repaid by the Fourth - Phase Fund to China Renaissance was 923 million yuan, and the outstanding investment amount was 791 million yuan, with payable interest of 117 million yuan. Among them, the total cost paid by China Renaissance plus the waived interest is approximately equal to the investment amount at that time, which is less than the market value of the eight companies as of December 31st. The difference between them is the cost and result of the negotiation.
In short, the settlement agreement is the result of "comprehensive negotiation" between China Renaissance and the LPs of the Fourth - Phase Fund on "recovering the outstanding investment amount and accrued interest". The LPs don't have to worry about continuing to fulfill the capital contribution agreement, and China Renaissance gets the equity of the eight companies. This result is not a complete win - win situation, but each party gets what it needs.
In the past 894 days, China Renaissance has simply removed its "hat". For example, no one mentions the title of "boutique investment bank in the tech circle" anymore. The focus of the narrative has returned to transaction methods such as "mergers and acquisitions", and the slogan of "going all - in on mergers and acquisitions" has been put forward. In an internal open letter in 2024, Wang Lixing made a very serious statement: "The times have changed. It may be very difficult to achieve success by following the path defined by the previous generation of partners in terms of timing, geographical advantages, and capabilities. This requires us to find our own path based on today's environment and ultimately surpass the previous level in terms of potential."
Wang Lixing joined China Renaissance as a campus recruit in 2007 and is what Xu Yanqing calls a "CR Baby". Before becoming the CEO, he has held almost every position at China Renaissance, including analyst, manager, vice - president of the TME department, director and managing director of the corporate finance team, and head of the financial advisory division. The year 2015, when Bao Fan first proposed the "de - Bao Fan" concept, might have been the busiest year in his career. In an internal WeChat post of China Renaissance titled "The Five - Ring Song of China Renaissance People", colleagues shared that "one afternoon in February, when someone went to him (Wang Lixing) to ask about work, he said, 'Can you give me 10 minutes to rest? I'm so sleepy because in the previous three weeks, he and the M&A team completed a project together, and the team members slept less than one hour a day in the last week.'"
That year, he wrote an article called "Stay True to Your Original Aspiration and You'll Achieve Your Goal" on his personal WeChat public account, saying: "We can't stop doing something just because of potential risks in the future. I believe everyone understands the principle of not giving up something completely because of a minor setback."
Although it's cruel, after these 894 days, the impact of Bao Fan's "return" may be far lower than many people's expectations.
Of course, I have no intention of criticizing people for symbolizing "Bao Fan" in the past 894 days. In the past year, our editorial department at China Venture Capital jointly compiled a more than 250,000 - word "History of Chinese Venture Capital", trying to review how venture capital has gradually evolved from a "financial tool to enhance the market - oriented nature of the economy" to an industry with "clear social division of labor, distinct social mission, complete upward path, and systematic skill system" from 2005 to 2025. And Bao Fan is a name that cannot be bypassed in the process of writing this book.
For example, the famous article "Beware of the Retailization of Venture Capital" back then could connect the fierce Group - Buying War and the Ride - Hailing War, connect the "All - People PE" era and the "Second - Board Era", and connect the radical LeEco and the chaotic battle between Didi and Meituan. One can imagine that this article made many people first realize what concepts such as "scarcity of target assets", "semi - primary market", and "merger - based market - value management" specifically mean. It made people realize that "the capital market has never evolved based on moral standards".
More importantly, the primary market is completely opaque and shapeless. It is composed of various pieces of information. People make investment decisions based on this information. Denial, confirmation, or non - comment are all forms of information and can be used as reference, and it is even necessary to make further inferences. In this situation, where can we find a sufficient quantitative scale to define the status and boundaries of the Chinese primary market? Bao Fan is not the only one who can play this role, but the number of people who can connect all the threads and the window periods during which they can access these threads are quite limited.
It's probably like what Kant wrote in "Critique of Pure Reason": If a proposition is thought of together with its necessity, then it is an a priori judgment. This statement is also very suitable for people's attention to Bao Fan: If there is such a person who is inevitably associated with his identity, then he may represent people's most direct and profound consensus on this "identity".
From this perspective, people's collective and even excessive attention to Bao Fan in the past 894 days is completely worthy of positive interpretation. Because in people's collective will, he comes from a period of prosperity.
This article is from the WeChat official account "China Venture Capital", author: Pu Fan. Republished by 36Kr with permission.