ESPRIT Holdings Ltd rose to the highest in six weeks in Hong Kong trading yesterday after the retail chain said yesterday it will hire Chew Fook Aun of the city's biggest property trust as chief financial officer.

Esprit, which sells jeans, shoes and towels in more than 40 countries, climbed 13 percent to close at HK$50.10 (US$7.3) in Hong Kong, the most since October 30, trimming this year's loss to 57 percent. The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 5.6 percent yesterday and has declined 44 percent this year.

Chew, finance chief at The Link Management Ltd, manager of the Link Real Estate Investment Trust, will start by June 1, the company said in a statement. He will succeed John Poon, who resigned as Esprit's deputy chairman and CFO in July ''to pursue other interests.''

''It's good that Esprit appointed a Chinese person,'' Kenny Tang, executive director of Redford Securities Co, said by phone with Bloomberg News from Hong Kong. He said the appointment would help the company develop the Chinese mainland market.

Before yesterday, the retailer had lost 48 percent of its market value, or about HK$51.8 billion, since Poon quit. Esprit Chief Executive Officer Heinz Krogner is battling declining retail sales in Germany, where Esprit makes almost half of its revenue. Retail sales in Germany, Europe's largest economy, unexpectedly fell 1.6 percent in October from the previous month as the fallout from the global financial crisis damped household spending.

Chew is required to give Link REIT six months' notice, he said in a phone interview. The property trust may allow him to leave earlier, depending on how smooth the transition is for his successor, he said.

Earlier disagreements with the Children's Investment Fund Management (UK) LLP, which owns 18 percent of the Hong Kong property trust, led to the departure of former Link REIT Chairman Paul Cheng in January last year.