Dairy Farm, which operates 7-Eleven convenience stores locally and in southern China, is set to open 50 more mainland stores in the next six months.
A new joint venture - Guangdong Saiyi Convenience Store - had received permission from mainland authorities to go ahead with a US$20 million plan for 300 new stores in the next four years, the company said.
Dairy Farm Management Services, a wholly owned subsidiary, holds 65 per cent of the joint venture. China-based Sinogiant owns the remainder.
The joint venture was the first convenience store operator to win a licence to open outlets since Beijing revamped the mainland's retail industry in 1998, said David Tso Kun, chief executive of 7-Eleven Hong Kong and Southern China, a unit of Dairy Farm Management Services.
Under the restructuring of the retail sector, the government strictly enforces a rule that forbids foreign companies from setting up shop without operating licences.
The group Hong Kong and Southern China opened its first mainland outlet in Guangzhou five years ago. It presently operates 50 outlets in southern China.