Arabic version: لاكِن كوفي تدرس التوسع في أسواق الخليج

According to Cnbc, Luckin Coffee is considering an entry into Gulf countries after Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala became a direct investor through a $1 billion joint investment with Centurium Capital in early September. Chairman David Li said senior management was looking at other markets and could potentially enter regions including Gulf countries.

Li is co-founder and chief executive of Centurium Capital, the controlling shareholder of Luckin. Neither Mubadala nor Centurium disclosed the size of their respective stakes. Mubadala, a $385 billion sovereign fund, has invested more than $20 billion in China, including in Shein and Dalian Wanda’s shopping malls business.

Luckin had planned in 2019 to open stores in the Middle East and India, but those plans did not materialize. The company later faced an accounting scandal involving former executives who fabricated hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. It filed for bankruptcy in the United States and was delisted from Nasdaq.

Luckin CEO Jinyi Guo said the Gulf’s appeal includes stable, high-frequency coffee demand and a growing preference for low-sugar, health-oriented drinks. The chain has expanded in Singapore and Malaysia, while its overseas footprint remains small compared with its more than 36,000 stores in mainland China and Hong Kong combined.

In the second quarter, Luckin reported revenue growth of 28.5% to 15.9 billion yuan, or $2.34 billion. Average monthly transacting customers rose 23% to 112.7 million, and the company opened 2,714 net new stores during the period. Its institutional investors also include Singapore’s Temasek, which disclosed a 6.4% stake in a May regulatory filing.