(Yicai) Sept. 10 -- Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment has agreed to make a strategic minority investment in China’s Luckin Coffee, given the promising growth prospects of the Chinese coffee consumption market.

Mubadala will join Luckin Coffee’s controlling shareholder Centurium Capital in investing USD1 billion into the Chinese coffee chain, subject to customary closing conditions, the Chinese private equity firm said in a statement today, citing an announcement by Mubadala.

Once the investment is completed, Mubadala will become a minority shareholder of Luckin Coffee, the Abu Dhabi-based firm added, without disclosing its exact investment amount or its shareholding ratio.

“We continue to see compelling long-term opportunities in China’s consumer sector,” said Mohamed Albadr, head of Asia, Private Equity at Mubadala. “Building on our longstanding partnership with Centurium, we look forward to working alongside Luckin Coffee’s management team to support its next phase of growth in China and internationally.

“Luckin Coffee has built a differentiated, technology-enabled business with data embedded across customer engagement, product development, and store operations,” Albadr noted. “This combination of scale, digital capabilities, and rapid product innovation has enabled Luckin Coffee to respond to evolving consumer preferences efficiently and at pace.”

Founded in 2017, Luckin Coffee has grown into one of China's leading coffee platforms, built around a technology-driven retail model designed to make high-quality coffee more convenient and accessible. As of June 30, it operated more than 36,000 stores globally, with its cumulative number of transacting customers approaching 500 million.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione