Li Ning Brand Eyes Overseas Growth
The Li Ning brand is looking to expand outside of China.
Li Ning Co. Ltd. (LNC) is a footwear and sportswear firm founded by champion gymnast and Olympian Li Ning. Its subsidiary LN Co. formed a joint venture (JV) to develop and operate the Li Ning brand outside of Mainland China, particularly in the Belt and Road regions that include South, Southeast, and Central Asia. Partners in the JV include Founder Co., HongShan Venture, HongShan Motivation. HongShan was previously the China investment arm of Sequoia Capital before it was spun off and rebranded.
Li Ning and his firm—he is executive chairman and joint CEO—will hold a 55 percent controlling stake in the JV shares, allowing it to continue oversight to safeguard the reputation of the brand. The LN Co. subsidiary has the option, under certain conditions, to acquire all HongShan shares in the future. Bringing in HongShan as a partner allows LN Co. to benefit from the venture firm’s expertise and extensive investment experience in the region, particularly in the building of transnational businesses.
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LNC said that its core strategy of “Single Brand, Multiple Categories, and Diversified Chanels” has achieved “impressive results in the highly competitive Mainland China market.” It also recognizes that business models in the overseas market differ substantially from those operating in Mainland China, as well as the need for partner collaboration and the establishment of a new operating framework.
“In the short term, the company will prioritise its operations in Mainland China market to further increase the market share of its core business and to enhance the competitiveness of its brands in the key business segments,” LNC said in a statement.
The share capital in the JV is 200 million Hong Kong dollars ($25.7 million). Partner contributions to the JV total include 58 million Hong Kong dollars ($7.5 million) from LN Co., 52 million Hong Kong dollars (6.7 million) from Founder, 62.728 million Hong Kong dollars ($8.1 million) from HongShan Ventures, and 27.272 million Hong Kong dollars ($3.5 million) from HongShan Motivation. The agreement provides that the JV will be formed in the British Virgin Islands.
For the six months ended June 30, LNC posted profit of 1.95 billion renminbi ($273.7 million) versus profit of 2.12 billion renminbi ($297.4 million) in the same year-ago period. Revenue was 14.35 billion renminbi ($2.01 billion) versus 14.02 billion ($2 billion) a year ago. Full year results for the year ending Dec. 31, 2024, will be available in March 2025.
Credit analysts at ratings firm S&P Global Ratings said in July that the value of the global sportswear industry within the retail sector was close to $395 billion in 2023, with a compound annual growth rate averaging 4.5 percent between 2009 to 2023. The Asia Pacific region accounted for 26 percent of the global sportswear industry last year, with China representing half of that volume. And in a published report in August 2022, the Li Ning brand as cited by data analytics firm Kantar BrandZ as the fastest growing brand in a ranking of 100 most valuable Chinese brands that year.
