The Conglomerate That Troubles China

For one of China’s most powerful investors, Guan Jun is surprisingly difficult to track down. On a sweltering July afternoon in Beijing, two Bloomberg staffers set out to find Guan, who until recently controlled a stake in airlines-to-finance conglomerate HNA Group Co. that on paper was worth almost $18 billion. The first stop was the headquarters of cosmetics company Beijing Mei Yue Xi Beauty Technology Ltd., which corporate registries indicate Guan controls. On the fifth floor of a nondescript building in a quiet neighborhood of the capital, the office was empty and locked. A man in the hallway said whoever worked there had moved away a couple of months before.

Another dead end: an apartment that Guan listed as his address in Hong Kong filings. The current tenant, who would give only her surname, Sui, said the apartment was owned by Guan’s wife until she sold it about a year before. Sui said she couldn’t provide new contact details. The story was similar at the local branch of Oriental Aphrodite Beauty Spa, a provider of pedicures and massages that media reports have suggested Guan once owned. Two managers said they couldn’t recall anyone by that name.