(Yicai) Nov. 21 -- McDonald's has agreed to buy Carlyle Group's minority stake in McDonald's China, the operator of the US fast food titan's restaurants in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, and Macao, to simplify its shareholding structure.

The deal is subject to regulatory approval and will likely close in the first quarter of next year, McDonald's announced yesterday, without disclosing further details, including how much US-based global investment firm Carlyle will receive.

McDonald's stake will increase to 48 percent from 20 percent, the Chicago-based firm said. State-owned conglomerate Citic Consortium will remain the partnership's controlling shareholder with a 52 percent stake that it mainly owns through affiliate Citic Capital, it noted.

"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," said Chris Kempczinski, McDonald's president and chief executive officer.

McDonald’s entered the Chinese market in 1990 by opening its first restaurant in the southern city of Shenzhen. The company sold control over its operations in the mainland and the two special administrative regions to Carlyle and Citic in 2017 for USD2.1 billion.

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

The goal for McDonald's China remains to surpass 10,000 restaurants by 2028, according to Yichen Zhang, chairman and CEO of Citic Capital and chairman of McDonald's China.

Editors: Shi Yi, Martin Kadiev