Supermarket operator Sun Art Retail Group Ltd. (6808.HK) said on Wednesday that its recently installed CEO Li Weiping has become unreachable, as other media reported she was assisting police in an unspecified investigation.
Sun Art, which operates the RT-Mart supermarket chain, said it believed the matter behind Li’s disappearance was not related to its own business and thus should have no adverse impact on the company. It said that Sun Art Chairman Julian Juul Wolhardt will assume Li’s responsibilities during her absence.
Li was taken away by police to assist in an investigation and hasn’t been heard from since last Friday, according to Chinese media reports, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
Li joined Sun Art as CEO last December. Before that she worked for seven years at Freshippo, the supermarket unit of Alibaba. Alibaba previously owned a majority stake in Sun Art, but announced it would sell that a year ago as part of its campaign to divest some of its brick-and-mortar assets to focus on its core e-commerce business.
Sun Art stock opened flat on Wednesday and was up 0.7% in early afternoon trade. The stock is down about 13% over the last 52 weeks.
By Doug Young
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