McDonald's increases stake in China's market

Fast-food giant McDonald's Corp is increasing its minority stake in its business in China to capture the opportunities from its fastest growing market.

McDonald's has agreed to raise its stake from 20 percent to 48 percent through the acquisition from global investment firm Carlyle in its strategic partnership that operates and manages McDonald's business on the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao.

The Citic consortium will maintain its controlling ownership stake. Upon completion of the transaction, the Citic consortium will continue to own 52 percent.

"Our strategic partnership with Citic and Carlyle has been extremely successful in growing McDonald's presence in the region since it began. China is now our second largest market; we've doubled our restaurants to more than 5,500 since 2017," said Chris Kempczinski, McDonald's president and chief executive officer.

"We believe there is no better time to simplify our structure, given the tremendous opportunity to capture increased demand and further benefit from our fastest growing market's long-term potential."

In 2017, the chain sold control of its restaurants on the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao to Carlyle and Citic.

Now the company is aiming to reach a goal of 10,000 and more restaurants by 2028 in the market.

The deal is upon customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024.