Olympic gymnast Li Ning’s Viva China buys Hong Kong’s iconic clothing chain Bossini at massive discount
- A joint venture controlled by Viva China will buy a 66.6 per cent stake in Bossini at a 71 per cent discount to Thursday’s closing share price
- Upon completion of the deal Bossini, founded by the late textile tycoon Law Ting-pong in 1987, will become a subsidiary of Viva China
Viva China Holdings, the sports talent agency founded by Chinese gymnastics star Li Ning, is to buy a controlling share of famed Hong Kong clothing chain Bossini International Holdings at a knock-down price.
A joint venture company, 80 per cent owned by a Viva China subsidiary and 20 per cent by Keystar, an investment company, has offered to buy a 66.6 per cent stake in the clothes retailer for HK$46.62 million (US$6.01 million), Bossini said in a filing to the stock exchange on Friday.
That translates to HK$0.043 per share, which is 71 per cent lower than Bossini’s price of HK$0.148 per share at the market close on Thursday.
Upon completion of the deal Bossini, founded by the late textile tycoon Law Ting-pong in 1987, will become a subsidiary of Viva China.
Viva China Holdings was established by the popular Olympic gymnast-turned-entrepreneur Li Ning in 2009. Li owns a 92.92 per cent stake, according to Viva China’s financial report for 2019.
Keystar is wholly owned by Bosco Law, nephew of Bossini’s former chairman Law Ka-sing, with 66.6 per cent of the company’s share together with his wife, Bess Tsin Man-kuen, who’s Bossini’s current chairman.
Li Ning and Viva China approached Bossini in February, according to the company’s statement.
Bossini has suffered a deteriorating performance in the past two years, knocked by months of social unrest and now the coronavirus outbreak.