Marathon Asset Management LLP (Marathon) recently added to its stake in HK-listed Li Ning Company Limited (Li Ning). According to a filing submitted to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on June 16th, 2017, the firm bought 3,079,500 shares on the exchange on June 15th at an average price of HKD 5.979 per share (the total consideration was ~US$2.36m). Following the purchase, Marathon’s stake in Esprit increased from 4.89% to 5.03% of the company’s shares outstanding.

Li Ning is one of the leading sports brand companies in China. It offers a wide range of sporting goods including footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for professional and leisure purposes, primarily under the LI-NING brand. In addition to its core brand, the company also manufactures and distributes various sports products which are self-owned by or licensed to Li Ning, including Double Happiness (table tennis), AIGLE (outdoor sports), Danskin (fashionable fitness products for dance and yoga), Kason (badminton) and Lotto (sports fashion).

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.