Starbucks, the world's largest coffee shop chain operator, has reached an agreement with long-time jointventure partner Maxim's Caterers to take full control of more than half of its retail stores on the mainland.
As part of that deal, Maxim's acquired Starbucks' remaining stake in its business in Hong Kong and Macau, assuming 100 per cent equity in those markets.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
'Full ownership of our stores in central, south and western China is part of our broader strategy to build China as our second home market outside of the US and allows us to accelerate growth as we look to achieve our goal of having 1,500 stores across the country by 2015,' John Culver, the president of Starbucks Coffee International, said yesterday.
The mainland markets covered by its agreement with Maxim's include the provinces of Guangdong, Hainan, Sichuan, Shaanxi and Hubei, as well as the municipality of Chongqing.
Starbucks, which posted a 10 per cent increase in global revenue to US$2.8 billion in its fiscal second quarter ended April 3, operates in 35 cities across the mainland, many of which are the so-called second- and third-tier cities with populations of more than one million. It had about 450 stores on the mainland as of last month.
In a conference call with analysts last month, chairman and chief executive Howard Schultz described Starbucks as ideally positioned 'to profitably grow its store presence across dozens, if not hundreds, of cities throughout China in the quarters and years ahead'.