Viva China Holdings, the personal vehicle of sporting goods billionaire Li Ning, filed this week that it bought over $77 million worth of Li Ning Company shares in three tranches between September 1–3. The purchases were filed September 7 and span 45.8 million shares at prices around HK$13.23–13.41. This is a clear vote of confidence from the founder himself, buying directly into recent weakness.
The contrast with institutional activity is stark. BlackRock disclosed a $137M sale in Chinese cloud software firm Kingdee International on September 7. That sale came alongside JPMorgan shedding $85M in the same stock a day later. Both banks also dumped shares in Sunny Optical Technology ($71M) and Midea Group ($42M) on the same September 1–2 dates — a cluster of exits that signals deliberate reduction in China tech exposure.
Not all institutional moves point the same way. JPMorgan filed a $66M buy in Hong Kong-listed Pharmaron Beijing on September 8 — the CRO firm has now seen JPMorgan accumulate shares across multiple tranches since late August, building a 10% position totalling over $129M. Morgan Stanley also added $10M separately. Meanwhile, Pharmaron's own founder Zheng Bei filed a $9.5M sale in the A-share listing in late August — an insider selling while institutional buyers pile in is worth watching closely.
The week's data paints a mixed picture. Founder buying at Li Ning signals bottom-fishing conviction. Mass bank exits from Kingdee suggest caution on China tech valuations. All stakes reflect positions as last disclosed and may have changed.
ORTEX Market Intelligence content is generated by AI from a snapshot of ORTEX's proprietary data. Content is informational only and does not constitute investment advice.
