South Beauty sells majority stake to private equity firm

High-end restaurant chain operator South Beauty Investment Co has sold its majority stake to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, a source from the company's public relations department confirmed with the Global Times Tuesday.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But in October 2013, media reported that CVC was planning to acquire 69 percent of South Beauty for $300 million.

The company will tap the market in second- and third-tier cities in future, as its presence is mainly in first-tier cities, a staff member from the PR department surnamed Wu told the Global Times.

South Beauty founder Zhang Lan will remain the company's chairwoman and is still one of the company's shareholders.

Investment firm CDH Investments bought a 10.5 percent stake in the restaurant chain for 200 million yuan ($31.96 million) in 2008, and the investment only stands on condition that South Beauty could get listed by the end of 2012, media said.

In March 2011, the company filed an IPO application with the China Securities Regulatory Commission, but the commission ended its review process of the company's IPO in January 2012.

Media reports also said that the company tried to get listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, but failed.

The central government's anti-extravagance campaign has had an adverse impact on high-end restaurants such as South Beauty which otherwise could have gotten a higher valuation in the deal, experts noted.

South Beauty is valued at 2.7 billion yuan based on the reported purchasing price.