Hangzhou-based C.Straits Food Chain Co. Ltd. announced last week that it has sold a 20% stake in its C.Straits Café restaurants chain in China to Goldman Sachs and Whitesun Equity Partners for $30 million in a private equity arrangement.

C.straits now operates over 400 restaurants either directly or through franchise, mostly in Hangzhou and Fuzhou provinces. The company plans to use its new found capital to expand to 1,000 in the near future in Hangzhou, Wuhan, Tianjin, Chongqing and other cities. The expansion will help C.straits compete with the likes of Starbucks and Chamate. The company is also focusing on second-tier cities.

Sinolinx reported last month that C.straits was opening in Lhasa, tibet. The report said that C.strait in Lhasa was "a joint venture with local entrepreneurs, and located on Yutuo Road - one of Lhasa's main streets - near the famous Potala Palace." The restaurant would serve the huge tourist industry in Lhasa.


© S.C. Axman

"The food and beverage industry in China has huge growth potential because of the steady rise of personal incomes," said David Chou, director and general manager of Goldman Sachs, in a statement. C.straits plans to expand its menu to include Japanese teppanyaki items.

Taiwanese businessman and C.straits chairman Yang Jinfa has said that the company plans an IPO in Shanghai in 2010.

Whitesun is a Shanghai-based private equity firm that primarily focuses on investments in technology and consumer products companies.