French luxury goods retailer PPR has acquired a majority stake in the Chinese fine-jewellery brand Qeelin, PPR announced Monday.

The transaction will be finalized in January 2013, the French company said in a statement.

PPR believes that Qeelin has tremendous intrinsic growth potential which would help the group to accelerate its expansion, notably through store openings in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, the statement said.

"I am delighted that Qeelin is joining PPR's portfolio of luxury brands... We thus have great ambitions for the brand and will make it benefit from our expertise and know-how, so that it can speed up its development," PPR Chairman and CEO Francois-Henri Pinault was quoted by the statement as saying.

Qeelin CEO and co-founder Guillaume Brochard said, "PPR is the ideal strategic partner to lead our company towards a new stage in its development. Experience and information sharing within PPR will be very valuable."

Founded in 2004, Hong Kong-based Qeelin has developed an international network of boutiques in the most prestigious shopping districts worldwide, including seven stores in the Chinese mainland, four in Hong Kong and three in Europe.

The PPR Group is one of the world's leading apparel and accessories groups that operates Luxury and Sport & Lifestyle premium brands, such as Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Yves Saint Laurent, Puma and others. Endi