The Chinese tycoon whose firm has just taken control of Bermuda-based insurance firm Ironshore in a $1.84 billion deal is assisting authorities with an investigation.

Guo Guangchang, the billionaire chairman of Fosun International and one of China’s most famous businessmen, was earlier said to be out of contact with his company.

The trading of Fosun’s shares and convertible bonds, as well as shares in companies controlled by Mr Guo, were suspended in Hong Kong and the mainland last Friday, although the company said shares would resume trading today.

A Fosun spokesman said: “The directors of the company are of the view that this investigation has not posed any material adverse impact on the finances or operation of the group.

“The operations of the company remain normal.”

And Fosun said that Mr Guo would still be able to take part in major company decisions through appropriate means, although it declined to elaborate.

The halt in Fosun trading came after a report in an online publication caused speculation that Mr Guo had become the latest in a string of high-profile Chinese businessmen to be quizzed by regulators as part of an anti-corruption crackdown.

The Caixin site quoted sources saying that Fosun had been unable to reach Mr Guo since around lunchtime local time last Thursday, although Fosun in Hong Kong declined to comment on the reports.

China’s authorities have been clamping down on corruption in the business and finance sector and earlier this year a sting of top figures were found to have temporarily gone missing.

Fosun bought 20 per cent of Ironshore in February and the deal to buy up the remaining 80 per cent closed last month.

Ironshore is now an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of the Shanghai-based Fosun.

Sally Yim, senior credit officer at Moody’s Investors Service, said: “Guo is one of the high-profile Chinese entrepreneurs and this incident will raise eyebrows among foreign regulators as Fosun has been aggressively expanding its global insurance footprint.

“But it’s too early to say how this incident will impact Fosun’s operations.”

Ironshore chief operating officer and CEO of the company’s Bermuda platform Mitch Blaser did not return a call from The Royal Gazette.

Mr Guo, 48, has amassed a business empire, involving industrial operations as well as a clutch of insurance, banking and asset management firms and now has a net worth of $5.7 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

He closed a billion-dollar takeover of the Club Med hotel chain.

In total, Fosun has spent more than $30 billion on foreign acquisitions and, at the middle of the year, had combined assets of $55 billion.

Mandarin Capital Partners founder Alberto Forchielli, who has 20 years of business experience in China, said: “Should Guo, well known abroad, be found to be at the centre of a graft investigation, this would be a strong signal to the world that China is serious about its anti-corruption campaign.”