Citic plans to sell its minority stake in McDonald’s China business to one of its private equity arms as part of efforts to lower its debt as Beijing pushes for large, government-backed companies to deleverage.
As part of any deal, Citic Capital, the private equity arm of the state-owned financial services group, would increase its stake in the US fast-food chain’s China operation from 20 per cent to 42 per cent, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The transaction would give McDonald’s Chinese business an enterprise value of about $3bn, one of the people said. It had an estimated enterprise value of about $2bn three years ago when Citic and Carlyle, the private equity firm, jointly bought a controlling stake in the operations from McDonald’s US parent.