Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company, alongside controlling shareholder Centurium Capital, has completed a strategic minority investment of approximately $1 billion in Luckin Coffee, according to BigGo Finance. The transaction is a secondary share transfer rather than a new share issuance, meaning the invested proceeds did not flow directly into Luckin Coffee's balance sheet.
Mubadala, which manages approximately $385 billion in assets, has previously deployed capital into the Chinese market through cross-border e-commerce platform SHEIN and acquisitions of core operations from UCB Pharma. The current transaction represents a significant investment by Gulf sovereign capital into China's consumer food and beverage sector.
Following its 2020 delisting over accounting fraud, Luckin Coffee posted total net revenue of CNY 49.288 billion (approximately $7.3 billion) in 2025. The company operates 36,310 stores, more than four times Starbucks' store footprint in China. However, the report noted that Luckin has recorded consecutive quarterly declines in same-store sales alongside growing competition from domestic tea beverage brands as the sector transitions from price wars to competition for existing market share.
BigGo Finance reported that market speculation suggests the transaction could assist Luckin in acquiring premium coffee brands or advancing plans to relist on a major US stock exchange, where institutional analysts project an estimated price-to-earnings ratio of 18 to 22 times upon relisting.
Sources
- finance.biggo.com · 2026-09-26
