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Shares of Fosun International closed up 9.65 percent higher in Hong Kong on Thursday, after the company said it will sue US-based financial news outlet Bloomberg for false reports over its financial health.

Fosun said on Thursday that it will file a law suit against Bloomberg on a false report about Chinese regulatory authorities asking banks and several state-owned companies to examine their exposure to Fosun, which has misled investors resulting in significant harm to the company. Shares of Fosun International lost 6.94 percent on Wednesday. 

Founded in 1992, Fosun’s business interests span property, healthcare, finance, tourism and culture-related businesses. Fosun International ranked No.589 on the 2022 Forbes Global 2000 List, according to Fosun’s official website. 

Guo Guangchang, chairman and co-founder of the company said on Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo on Thursday that Fosun will sue Bloomberg for its false report and infringement and resolutely defend all the legitimate rights and interests of the company.

After the report was widely disseminated at home and abroad, it seriously misled investors, caused abnormal market fluctuations, and had a major impact on Fosun's normal business operations and reputation, leading to heavy losses to Fosun and its investors, Guo said.

The company on Wednesday denied the report, saying that such reports are completely false and deviated from the facts.

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) has not asked commercial banks to review their financial exposure on Fosun, and many commercial banks that cooperate with Fosun have never received relevant notices, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

According to the interim results announced on August 30, Fosun's major business demonstrated resilience, the company added. In the first half of the year, Fosun’s total revenue reached 82.89 billion yuan ($11.9 billion), representing a year-on-year increase of 17.7 percent. 

Fosun has maintained good cooperative relations with many Chinese banks and international banks, the company said.

Bloomberg has not responded to a Global Times request for comment as of press time on Thursday. 

In recent years, there have been a number of cases in which Western media outlets tried to smear Chinese companies with false reports.

For example, The Wall Street Journal in 2019 reported that Huawei has used its technology and products to help governments in Uganda, Zambia and other African countries monitor their domestic political opponents. The report was refuted by then Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang, who said the report was full of holes and lacked facts and evidence.

In another case, Bloomberg Businessweek in 2018 claimed that China inserted chips in Amazon and Apple hardware to spy the companies, only to be firmly refuted by the US companies.

Dong Shaopeng, an expert advisor at the China Securities Regulatory Commission, told the Global Times on Thursday that such cases showed that reporters from some Western media outlets might be misinformed by their sources；however, it does not rule out the possibility that they have deliberately spread rumors about Chinese companies based on their ideological bias.

“It is important that the targeted company make clarification with solid proof from the start to reduce the impact of such reports,” Dong said.

Dong Dengxin, director of the Finance and Securities Institute of the Wuhan University of Science and Technology, told the Global Times on Thursday that as the US capital market has become more and more politicized so are US media outlets, which have close ties with the Wall Street. “Chinese enterprises should be vigilant in this regard,” Dong said.

Chen Jia, an independent research fellow on international strategy, told the Global Times on Thursday that “it is important for Chinese companies to use the laws to crack down on evil institutions and media outlets and pay more attention to protecting core information.”

Global Times