One of China's best-known businessmen was unaccounted for yesterday after local media reported that the chairman and founder of Gome Electrical Appliance Holdings, China's largest electronics retailer, had been detained in connection with a share manipulation probe.

Shares in Gome were suspended, and there were concerns about the implications for the company after reports that Huang Guangyu had been detained.

Gome said the whereabouts of Mr Huang were unclear. It could not confirm that he had been detained, and it had not received any formal legal notice.

The company was "making necessary inquiries" to try to "verify the allegations".

Mr Huang, 39, built the group over the past two decades into one of the biggest retailers in China. Hurun Report, which compiles lists of China's wealthy, said last month he was the wealthiest person in the country, with a net worth of $6.3bn (£4.2bn). A list compiled by Forbes magazine put him in second place in China.

Caijing, a Chinese financial magazine, reported that Mr Huang was detained on Wednesday as part of a probe into the manipulation of shares of SD Jintai, a little-known pharmaceuticals group controlled by Mr Huang's brother, Huang Junqin. SD Jintai's shares soared more than 700 per cent during 2007. Hong Kong media also reported over the weekend that Mr Huang had been questioned by police.

Analysts said it was impossible to say what the implications were for Gome given the lack of information. However, even the uncertainty could be damaging, some said, because the company's business model involved taking on large amounts of short-term credit from suppliers.

"The home appliance business has to support huge amounts of credit and they are also talking about more M&A, which also requires funds," said Peng Yunliang at Shanghai Securities.

Gome said its operations and relations with suppliers had not been affected by the reports.

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