Marathon Asset Management LLP (Marathon) recently added to its stake in HK-listed Esprit Holdings (Esprit). According to a filing submitted to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on June 5th, 2017, the firm bought 6,506,500 shares on the exchange on June 2nd at an average price of HKD 5.578 per share (the total consideration was ~US$4.66m). Following the purchase, Marathon’s stake in Esprit increased from 8.82% to 9.15% of the company’s shares outstanding.

Esprit is a manufacturer of clothing, footwear and accessories under two brands, Esprit and edc. The company distributes its products directly to end-consumers through directly managed retail stores, an e-shop as well as both offline and online third parties. Esprit is headquartered in both Germany and Hong Kong and has been listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 1993.

Marathon is an independent investment management company based in London. They manage equities for a globally diverse client base comprising a broad range of institutional investors. The firm was founded in 1986 by William Arah and Neil Ostrer.

Lone Pine, another investor in Esprit, recently reduced their stake in the company (see here).