Henkel, the German maker of Persil washing powder, said Monday that its chief executive Kasper Rorsted is stepping down early as sportswear giant Adidas announced his appointment as their own new CEO. Henkel said in a statement that its supervisory board had "agreed unanimously and by mutual agreement to Kasper Rorsted's request to prematurely terminate his position" as CEO as of April 30. The 53-year-old Dane would be replaced by board member Hans Van Bylen, the statement said. Rorsted has been at the helm of the consumer chemicals giant - which also makes Loctite glue and Schwarzkopf haircare products - since 2008. And his contract was originally scheduled to run until 2017. Adidas subsequently issued a statement to announce that Rorsted had now been appointed as its new CEO starting in October 2016, where he would take over from Herbert Hainer. Originally, Hainer's contract had also been scheduled to expire at the end of March 2017.