Vice-chairman of Li Ning resigns

Li Ning Co Ltd, one of the leading sports brand companies in China, said that Jin-Goon Kim, the former interim CEO, had resigned as executive director and executive vice-chairman with effect from July 4 to pursue other business commitments.

Li Ning said Wu Jen-Wei, chairman of Johnson & Johnson China, had been appointed as a non-executive director effective from Aug 12. Wu has been nominated as a company director by TPG Stallion, a substantial shareholder.

In March, Li Ning said its namesake founder was returning to lead a turnaround drive after the China's best-known sports brand posted a third consecutive year of losses, squeezed by global brands and cheap local rivals.

The former Olympic champion gymnast returned as interim chief executive to replace Kim, who ran daily operations as interim chief executive from July 2012 until last November. Kim is an executive of U.S. private equity fund and Li Ning's backer TPG Capital.

The Chinese sportswear maker said Kim had no disagreement with the board. It gave no further details.