私募基金TPG合夥人"空降"李寧

TPG Capital has put one of its partners at the helm of Li Ning, the struggling Chinese sports brand, in a sign that the US private equity group's bet on middle class consumption in China is turning sour.

德州太平洋集團(TPG Capital)已派遣一名合夥人進入身處困境的中國體育用品公司——李寧公司(Li Ning)的管理層，顯示這家美國私募基金對中國中產階層消費的押注出現不妙的苗頭。

Kim Jin-goon, former managing director of Dell in South Korea, who joined the US private equity group in 2006, was on Thursday appointed executive vice-chairman to lead the company alongside Li Ning, the eponymous founder. The company also announced the departure of Zhang Zhiyong, chief executive, who had been with the company since its launch in 1989. Mr Li, chairman, would be the temporary CEO until a replacement for Mr Zhang is found.
曾任戴爾(Dell)韓國董事總經理、2006年加入德州太平洋集團的金珍君(Kim Jin-goon)，於週四被任命爲李寧公司執行副主席，與創始人李寧共同執掌該公司。李寧公司同時宣佈行政總裁張志勇離職。張志勇自1989年李寧公司成立時就加入了這家公司。在找到新的行政總裁之前，身爲主席的李寧將兼任臨時行政總裁。

Li Ning, which last month said it expected a substantial decline in full-year profit, is one of several bets on the growth of middle class spending in China for TPG, along with Daphne International, a low end chain of shoe stores, and China Grand Auto, the largest car dealership in China, among others.
上月宣佈全年利潤預計將出現大幅下滑的李寧公司，是德州太平洋集團對中國中產階層消費支出增長所作的押注之一。另外，德州太平洋集團還投資了中國中低端鞋類零售商達芙妮國際(Daphne International)、中國最大的汽車經銷商廣匯汽車(China Grand Auto)等一些企業。

All three have been hurt by a drop in consumer spending but Li Ning's problems are considered the most severe. "There is too much product," says one person with knowledge of the matter. "There was 30 per cent too much stock in the channel back in 2009 and this year, consumption has slowed month by month."
德州太平洋集團投資的這三家企業都受到了消費者支出下滑的影響，但李寧的問題被認爲是最嚴重的。"產品積壓太多。"一名知情人士表示，"2009年，渠道中有30%的多餘庫存，而今年，消費增長一個月比一個月緩慢。"

Li Ning's well publicised troubles and its sinking share price come at a sensitive time for TPG. The group is trying to raise $4bn-$5bn for its latest Asian fund at a time when local funds, in many cases run by princelings and insiders, are getting much of the deal flow.
李寧的困境備受矚目，其股價不斷走低，而與此同時，德州太平洋正面臨敏感時期。該集團正試圖爲其最新的亞洲基金募集40億至50億美元資金，而目前基金募集的主體是一些本地基金，其中許多的經營者是太子黨或內幕人士。

Mr Kim led a turnround at Daphne, in which TPG invested in 2009, that resulted in the company's share price rising fivefold and sales increasing 50 per cent while he was there from 2009 to 2011, Mr Kim said.
德州太平洋2009年投資達芙妮之後，金珍君帶領達芙妮走出了困境。金珍君表示，他在達芙妮的兩年間（2009年至2011年），達芙妮股價上漲了4倍，銷售額增加了50%。

At Li Ning, his first priority is to clear out the inventory largely built up by third-party distributors, mainly by shifting old stock to its outlet stores where they would be sold at heavily-discounted prices. "It is very important that we put the problem behind us even if that will cost us in terms of revenue shortage and income decline in the current year," he said.
金珍君在李寧的首要任務是清理存貨。這些庫存大部分集中在第三方分銷商手中。減少庫存的主要方法是將舊庫存轉移到折扣店，以極低的折扣價出售。金珍君表示："解決這個問題對我們來說很重要，即便會減少今年的營業收入和收益也在所不惜。"

The company also abandoned its overseas ambitions – which began in 2007 with a research and development centre in the US. From now on, the company would only focus on China, Mr Kim said.
李寧公司也放棄了進軍海外的野心——該公司從2007年起實踐這個想法，並在美國成立了一個研發中心。金珍君表示，從現在開始，李寧公司將把精力集中到中國市場上。

Li Ning's share price climbed as much as 11 per cent on Thursday on news of the management reshuffle. It had hit a six-year low following a 65 per cent decline in net profit last year and a series of profit warnings.
李寧週四宣佈管理層變動之後，股價一度大漲11%。該公司在公佈去年淨利潤下降65%，併發布了一系列利潤預警之後，股價曾經跌至6年低位。

But analysts were sceptical of TPG's ability to improve operations at Li Ning.
但一些分析師對德州太平洋改善李寧運營情況的能力表示懷疑。

"Daphne's performance improved a lot while Mr Kim was there but that's mainly to do with the economy improving after the global financial crisis. Actual changes to its operations were not very significant," said Alfred Ying, a senior consumer analyst at Piper Jaffray.
Piper Jaffray資深消費行業分析師Alfred Ying表示："金珍君在達芙妮期間該公司業績大幅提升，但那主要是因爲全球金融危機過後經濟環境改善。經營方面的實際變革所起的作用並不顯著。"

TPG bought Rmb561m ($88m) worth of convertible bonds in Li Ning in January, which would amount to a 12 per cent equity stake if converted. Mr Kim said: "TPG's investment in Li Ning is a long-term one as the turnround will be a multiyear effort. We will inject more capital into the company if necessary."
德州太平洋今年1月購買了李寧公司價值5.61億元人民幣（合8800萬美元）的可轉換債券，如轉換成股票相當於李寧12%的股份。金珍君表示："德州太平洋對李寧的投資着眼於長期，因爲走出困境需要多年的努力。如有必要，我們將向該公司注入更多資金。"