Starbucks Corp. agreed to sell a majority stake in its China business to private equity firm Boyu Capital at a $4 billion enterprise value in a bid to improve the coffee chain’s flagging fortunes in the country.

Boyu Capital will hold up to a 60% interest in Starbucks’ retail operations in China through a new joint venture with the coffee seller, the companies said in a statement. Starbucks will hold the remaining 40% and continue to license the brand and intellectual property to the joint venture.

The agreement marks the end of a search for a partner to help chart Starbucks’ next chapter in China, where it has about 8,000 stores after opening its first outlet in Beijing in 1999. However, Starbucks has struggled in recent years, along with other Western companies that have lost ground t

See Full Page