Following Anta Sports investment: Dennis Tao is new chairman of Puma supervisory board
Following a fundamental change in its ownership structure, German sportswear company Puma has made a change at the top of its supervisory board. On Wednesday, the company announced the election of Dennis Tao as chairman of the board. According to the statement, the 50-year-old had been “appointed as a member of the supervisory board by the court” on the same day.
Tao succeeds Héloïse Temple-Boyer, who had been a member of the supervisory board since 2019 and took over as chair in 2022. According to the company, her term of office ended “following the completed sale of Artémis SAS’s stake in Puma to Anta Sports Products Limited earlier this month”. As part of the transaction, the Chinese sportswear group acquired around 29 percent of Puma’s shares for approximately 1.5 billion euros and is now the largest single shareholder in the Herzogenaurach-based company.
According to Puma, the completion of the share sale also marked the end of Jean-Marc Duplaix’s term as deputy chairman of the supervisory board and chairman of the audit committee. Jeanne Huang has now been appointed to the supervisory board to replace him as another representative of the new major shareholder.
Both new additions are experienced Anta Sports executives
Tao serves as head of mergers and acquisitions and capital markets at Anta Sports. According to a statement, he also sat on the board of directors of sportswear group Amer Sports from 2019 to 2026, where he contributed to “the strategic realignment, global expansion and successful return of the company to the stock exchange”.
Huang is CEO of the Anta Sports subsidiary PIPA International Limited, a company that according to Puma “connects world-leading creative talent with Anta Group brands to drive product innovation and creative collaborations”. Prior to this, she held various leadership positions at Nike and Anta.
Puma CEO Arthur Hoeld welcomed the two new additions to the supervisory board. “We are delighted to welcome Dennis and Jeanne to Puma’s supervisory board,” he said in a statement. “Their deep industry knowledge and track record with leading brands globally and in China will be of great value for Puma’s future development. Together with the entire management board, I look forward to working with them to shape the next chapter for Puma.”
Following the recent changes, Puma’s supervisory board now consists of Tao; Huang; Roland Krüger; Harsh Saini; Fiona May; Martin Köppel; and Bernd Illig. The company also announced that Krüger will succeed Duplaix as deputy chairman of the board and chairman of the audit committee.