Hong Kong’s billionaire Cheng family seeks to oust Giordano CEO Peter Lau after failed buyout

Giordano’s shares fell as much as 7.4 per cent on Tuesday morning, the most in almost a month, before closing 3.9 per cent lower at HK$1.96.

The family of Henry Cheng Kar-shun, Giordano’s top shareholder with a stake of about 24.1 per cent, wants to appoint Colin Currie, whose previous roles include China managing director of Adidas, to the job, according to a stock exchange filing on Monday.

They also want to appoint two of Henry’s children, Sonia and Christopher, as non-executive directors of the board. The Giordano board is seeking legal advice on appropriate follow-up actions, the firm said.

Giordano has long been in the Cheng family’s sights. In 2022, they offered to buy the remaining shares of the retailer for a maximum cash consideration of HK$2.56 billion (US$327 million), but the deal failed when less than half of the company’s shareholders approved it.

Local media including HK01 reported at the time that Lau, who is also Giordano’s chairman and a significant shareholder, said he rejected the deal because he was not in need of cash.

The company is expected to report as much as HK$345 million in profit for the year up to December, an increase of 29 per cent from a year earlier, it said in a filing last month.

The Chengs have found themselves in the spotlight in recent months as a succession saga plays out publicly. Adrian, 44, was widely seen as the most likely candidate to take over the family’s sprawling US$24 billion empire, but has faced growing uncertainty about his status following comments from his father about still looking for a successor.