Bain Gets Courtesy Call From Top Shanghai Party Official

HONG KONG—Global consulting company Bain said one of Shanghai’s top Communist Party officials visited its office in the city, in what appears to be an effort to ease heightened concerns of foreign businesses in China following a series of raids and arrests.

The party secretary of Shanghai’s commercial Jing’an district, Yu Yong, visited Bain’s office there last Wednesday to discuss the company’s operations, the Boston-based firm said in a statement posted on its WeChat account on Monday.

The friendly nature portrayed by Bain of the latest meeting came after Chinese police questioned staffers in the same office in March—and as authorities increased pressure on firms that gather business intelligence, restricted foreign access to information channels and broadened its spy law amid rising U.S.-China tensions.

Chinese authorities had signaled that its national securities agencies were investigating whether the due-diligence industry, which has served Western companies in China, has also been used for foreign espionage. In recent months, authorities have detained local staff at Mintz Group’s Beijing office and raided the offices of Capvision, a leading provider of expert-network consulting, in a high-profile swoop across several Chinese cities. Bain was one of Capvision’s biggest clients in China.

Weiwen Han, managing partner for Bain in Greater China, introduced the consulting firm’s current operations, its history in the country since it entered the market in 1991 and the key areas in which Bain seeks to expand its business there, the company said.

Yu, the local party chief, said Jing’an has always pursued international development and worked to become a hub for professional services, adding that that the district would continue to “create a premier business environment and escort the development of enterprises,” according to Bain’s statement. Bain and Han declined to comment further.

Capvision, which is based in New York, has also sought to allay concerns and show that the beleaguered expert-network firm is committed to keep operating in China. In a statement on WeChat last Monday, the company said it held a conference about private investment attended by its clients and a well-known family office that it didn’t identify. It added that the company’s experts can help institutional investors find quality projects.

Capvision encouraged investors and companies with financing needs to reach out. It didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Write to Elaine Yu at [email protected]