Yum Brands is in talks with KKR and other private equity groups to sell a minority stake in its Chinese business, which the US fast-food operator plans to spin off later this year.

百胜品牌(Yum Brands)正在与KKR等私人股本集团讨论出售其在华业务的少数股份，这家美国快餐经营商计划今年晚些时候剥离其在华业务。

People familiar with the matter said that the company behind Kentucky Fried Chicken planned to sell as much as 19.9 per cent in the Chinese unit, valuing its China operations at about $10bn.

知情人士称，旗下拥有肯德基(KFC)等品牌的该公司计划出售其在华业务至多19.9%的股份，对其在华业务估值约100亿美元。

Those people added that the talks, which are also being held with several China-based funds, were at an early stage and it was not certain a deal would materialise.

知情人士补充称，相关讨论仍处于早期阶段，不确定能否达成交易。百胜还与数个中国基金进行了讨论。

The decision to sell a stake comes a few months after Yum, which also owns Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, agreed to spin off its China unit, marking the biggest shake-up since it was split from PepsiCo almost 20 years ago.

数月前，旗下品牌还包括必胜客(Pizza Hut)和塔可钟(Taco Bell)的百胜同意剥离在华业务，这标志着自其近20年前从百事集团(PepsiCo)剥离以来最大规模的重组。

Yum shares rose nearly 2 per cent to $80.39 after the Wall Street Journal first reported the potential sale.

在《华尔街日报》(WSJ)首先报道这笔可能的出售后，百胜股价上涨近2%，至80.39美元/股。

Yum declined to comment on the possible sale but reiterated the company’s plan to spin off and list its Chinese business. “We continue to make good progress since we announced the transaction separating Yum and Yum China into two powerful, independent, focused growth companies,” it said. “We will provide updates on the transaction at appropriate times and we won’t comment on rumours or speculation.”

百胜拒绝就该消息置评，但重申该公司计划剥离在华业务，并将其上市。“自我们宣布将百胜和百胜中国(Yum China)拆分成两家强大、独立、注重增长的企业以来，我们持续取得良好进展，”它称，“我们将在适当的时候提供交易的最新进展，同时我们不会对任何传言和猜测置评。”

The split, announced in October last year, came after activist Keith Meister joined the board of the company.

剥离计划于去年10月公布，那是在维权投资者基思•迈斯特(Keith Meister)加入该公司董事会之后。

Yum China has been recovering from a food safety scandal a couple of years ago at KFC, which hit demand for the fried chicken chain. While it has been recovering and sales have started to rise again, KFC’s sales in the country have not yet recovered to levels before the scandal.

百胜中国正在从两年前KFC的食品安全丑闻中恢复，当时该事件影响了这家炸鸡连锁餐厅的需求。尽管百胜中国正在渐渐恢复，销售额开始再次增长，但是KFC在中国的销售额仍未恢复到丑闻发生前的水平。

The Pizza Hut brand has seen sales drop in recent quarters amid an economic slowdown that Yum said reduced demand for eating out in mid-range restaurants.

最近几个季度，随着中国经济增长放缓，必胜客品牌的销售额有所下滑。百胜称，经济放缓削弱了人们对在中档餐厅就餐的需求。

Some analysts have raised concerns that changing consumer tastes, rising competition, and higher rents and lab-our costs could make life for Yum more difficult in China. But the group believes there is plenty of growth in China, where the government is aiming to shift the economy to one more dependent on local consumers than exports.

一些分析师担心，消费者口味变化、竞争加剧、租金上升以及劳动力成本增加可能会使百胜在中国的处境愈发艰难。但是该集团相信，中国拥有很大的增长空间。中国政府正推动经济转向在更大程度上依靠本土消费者，而非出口。