Even among China’s self-made tycoons, Wu Xiaohui was a shooting star. But the chairman of Anbang Insurance Group — who was detained last week in China as anti-corruption authorities started to comb through his company’s books — now appears to be returning to earth. In his wake lies a trail of cautionary tales, including several that relate to the opacity and volatility of China’s acquisition spree overseas.

Anbang has completed more than a dozen deals around the world since October 2014, buying some companies outright — including the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York — and taking significant equity stakes in others, according to Dealogic, a data company. This record makes it one of the most acquisitive among a phalanx of corporations that lay behind China’s $229bn in overseas M&A last year.

But questions over the quality of some such deals are insistent. In the case of Anbang, its bids came from the corporate equivalent of deep space, so sparse was the information provided. The company has not publicly divulged the identity of its owners, published an audited group financial statement, named its board of directors or explained how a long list of foreign subsidiaries fits into a labyrinthine corporate structure.