CITIC to sell stake in McDonald’s China, HK operations for $430.3 million

(Reuters) -China’s state-owned CITIC Ltd has agreed to sell its 19.23% stake in the company that operates fast-food chain McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) across China and Hong Kong for $430.3 million, fully exiting the business.

It will sell the stake in Fast Food Holdings to a unit of Chinese private equity firm Trustar Capital Partners, CITIC said in a statement.

Fast Food Holdings owns 52% of the holding company managing McDonald’s businesses in mainland China and Hong Kong.

The divestment comes after four years, when a unit of CITIC had put up for sale a stake it held in Fast Food Holding, intending to raise about $312 million.

In 2017, McDonald’s sold a majority stake in its China and Hong Kong operations to CITIC, its investment arm CITIC Capital, now known as Trustar, and Carlyle, in a deal valued at $2.1 billion at the time.

McDonald’s in 2023 increased its stake in the Chinese business to 48% by buying Carlyle’s 28% share, valuing the stake at $6 billion.

($1 = 7.1116 Chinese yuan renminbi)