Chinese sportswear company Li Ning seeks for new CEO

Li Ning, the troubled Chinese sportswear brand, is in the market for a new chief executive after the departure of the TPG partner installed two years ago to try to engineer a turnaround at the company which is one of the most famous locally-grown Chinese brands.

The company, which is backed by TPG Capital, reported first half net losses of Rmb585.8m earlier this year, three times as much as the year earlier net loss of Rmb184m, writes the FT's Patti Waldmeir in Shanghai.

Li Ning said today that Jin-Goon Kim, installed to run the company's daily operations in 2012, will step down as "interim CEO", but will continue as vice chairman of the board and an executive director. The company's founder, Li Ning, said in a statement that the company had made "very promising progress" in looking for a "full time CEO" , adding that "and the Board expects that the appointment of the new CEO can be made in the near future".

"With Mr. Kim's other TPG responsibilities, he and I, and the Board agree that now is the right time to begin the management transition" Mr. Li said, adding that he would "take on more of the company's daily operations" in the meantime.

"Jin-Goon Kim probably hadn't intended to be involved at Li Ning as closely and for as long as he has been, so a change to a full-time CEO is a natural step in Li Ning's transformation," says Torsten Stocker, greater China retail partner at AT Kearney in Hong Kong.

Named for the gymnast anointed by China's rulers to light the flame at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the company has run into trouble with its strategy of challenging the dominance of foreign brands in the Chinese sportswear market by charging a substantial premium over cheaper local brands.