10 September 2026
Mubadala Investment Company, the Abu Dhabi sovereign investor, has agreed to take a minority position in Luckin Coffee, China’s largest coffee chain, in a transaction worth approximately USD 1 billion (about AED 3.67 billion). Mubadala is investing alongside Centurium Capital, Luckin’s controlling shareholder. The Investment Agreement is dated 5 September 2026, the parties disclosed it to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on 9 September 2026 in Amendment No. 8 to a Schedule 13D, and UAE media reported it on 10 September 2026. Luckin operated 36,310 stores worldwide as of 30 June 2026 and reports cumulative transacting customers approaching 500 million. Closing remains subject to customary conditions, with no completion date disclosed.
The headline terms
This is a private equity transaction between two investors, not a fundraising by the coffee chain. The table below sets out what the filings and the announcement confirm.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Buyer | MIC Industrial Investments 4 RSC Ltd, a Mubadala Investment Company PJSC vehicle, as a major limited partner in a new fund |
| Counterparty | Two existing funds managed by Centurium Capital, Luckin’s controlling shareholder |
| Size | Approximately USD 1 billion (about AED 3.67 billion) |
| Instrument | 241,095,268 senior convertible preferred shares of Luckin Coffee Inc., in two blocks of 82,936,749 and 158,158,519 |
| Implied price | About USD 4.15 per preferred share, roughly USD 33.18 per American depositary share |
| Financing | Expected to be obtained via a bank loan, per the Schedule 13D/A |
| Governance | Right to nominate one director while holding at least 5 percent of the total issued and outstanding shares; the general partner must submit and support the nominee within 60 days of notice |
| Agreement date | 5 September 2026 |
| Filing date | 9 September 2026, Schedule 13D/A Amendment No. 8, CUSIP 54951L109 |
| Closing | Subject to customary closing conditions, no date given |
How the transaction is structured
The mechanics matter more than the headline number. The new money does not go to Luckin Coffee. A newly formed fund vehicle, with Mubadala as a major limited partner, is acquiring preferred shares that two existing Centurium funds already held. There is no new share issuance, so the company receives no proceeds and existing holders are not diluted. Centurium’s beneficial ownership of Luckin remains unchanged: the manager keeps control, and the Investment Agreement requires Centurium Investment Limited to keep legal and beneficial ownership of all Class B shares until the partnership fully disposes of its Luckin securities.
The Schedule 13D/A shows the reporting group, Centurium Holdings Ltd., Hui Li, MIC Industrial Investments 4 RSC Ltd and Mubadala Investment Company PJSC, beneficially owning 570,974,031 Class A ordinary shares in aggregate, or 22.1 percent. That figure combines 431,556,615 Class A shares issuable on conversion of 136,172,000 Class B shares with 295,384,615 senior convertible preferred shares, measured against 2,154,137,392 Class A shares outstanding as of 28 February 2026.
Those 295,384,615 preferred shares are the same block Centurium bought in the private placement that rescued Luckin after its accounting scandal, for aggregate gross proceeds of about USD 240 million. Roughly 82 percent of that block, 241,095,268 shares, is now being valued at about USD 1 billion. For Centurium the deal is a partial monetisation at a large multiple on a 2022 entry price, executed without giving up control. For Mubadala it is exposure to a company that already generates cash, priced as a private transaction rather than through the thin over the counter market where Luckin’s depositary shares trade under the ticker LKNCY.
What Mubadala is buying into
Luckin Coffee was founded in 2017 and now runs the largest coffee network in China by store count. Its second quarter 2026 results, published on 3 August 2026, show a business still growing fast at the top line while unit economics soften.
| Metric, Q2 2026 | Value | Change year on year |
|---|---|---|
| Total net revenues | RMB 15,885.6 million (USD 2,336.8 million) | up 28.5 percent |
| Stores worldwide at 30 June 2026 | 36,310 (23,734 self operated, 12,576 partnership) | 2,714 net additions in the quarter |
| Net new stores by market | 2,668 in China including Hong Kong, 31 in Malaysia, 8 in the United States, 7 in Singapore | n/a |
| Average monthly transacting customers | 112.7 million | up 22.9 percent |
| Same store sales, self operated | negative 5.3 percent | second consecutive decline |
| GAAP operating income | RMB 2,122.9 million (USD 312.3 million) | up 22.0 percent, margin 13.4 percent versus 14.1 percent |
| Net income | RMB 1,486.4 million (USD 218.7 million) | up 16.1 percent |
Two numbers frame the investment case and the risk in the same breath. Monthly transacting customers rose 22.9 percent to 112.7 million, which is the scale argument. Same store sales at self operated outlets fell 5.3 percent, the second quarterly decline in a row, which is the price war argument: growth is coming from opening stores rather than from selling more per store. Operating margin slipped from 14.1 percent to 13.4 percent for the same reason.
The company is also buying its own shares. On 1 September 2026 Luckin upsized a repurchase programme launched in April 2026 from USD 300 million to USD 500 million, running to 30 April 2027. As of 31 August 2026 it had repurchased 71.6 million Class A ordinary shares, equivalent to 8.9 million American depositary shares, for USD 287.2 million.
The turnaround behind the deal
Any assessment of this transaction has to acknowledge what happened in 2020. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Luckin with fabricating more than USD 300 million in retail sales between April 2019 and January 2020 through related party schemes, and the company agreed to pay a USD 180 million penalty to settle the accounting fraud charges. Nasdaq removed its American depositary shares from listing effective 13 July 2020, citing public interest concerns and a failure to disclose material information. The shares have traded over the counter ever since.
Centurium Capital led the recapitalisation that followed, taking the senior convertible preferred stake for about USD 240 million, and by 28 February 2026 held 23.1 percent of the equity and 47.8 percent of the voting rights. Chief executive Jinyi Guo has said the company is preparing to return to a United States listing, without giving a timeline. A sovereign investor of Mubadala’s size taking a billion dollar position five years after a delisting is a governance judgement as much as a consumer sector call, and it is worth reading it that way.
Why Mubadala is doing this
Mohamed Albadr, head of Asia private equity at Mubadala, framed the investment in sector terms: “We continue to see compelling long term opportunities in China’s consumer sector,” noting a technology enabled business with data embedded across customer engagement, product development and store operations. Michael Chen, partner at Centurium Capital, said Mubadala’s sector knowledge, global perspective and network will support Luckin’s long term development.
The allocation context is more revealing than the quotes. Mubadala reported 2025 results on 9 April 2026 with assets under management of USD 385 billion, up 17 percent from USD 330 billion, USD 39 billion deployed during the year and USD 38 billion in monetisation proceeds, a 27 percent increase. Its five year annualised return was 10.7 percent. The geographic split was North America 44 percent, the UAE 24 percent, Europe 15 percent and Asia Pacific 13 percent, and the fund has said it wants Asia to reach roughly a quarter of the portfolio over the coming decade. A USD 1 billion consumer position in China is one instalment of that shift, and it follows the pattern set by other recent Mubadala moves, including the increase of its Aldar stake to 28.03 percent and Mubadala Capital’s tokenised private markets fund.
| Mubadala, full year 2025 | Figure |
|---|---|
| Assets under management | USD 385 billion, up 17 percent from USD 330 billion |
| Capital deployed | USD 39 billion |
| Monetisation proceeds | USD 38 billion, up 27 percent |
| Five year annualised return | 10.7 percent |
| Asset mix | Private 42 percent, public 20 percent, real estate and infrastructure 17 percent, alternatives 16 percent, credit 5 percent |
| Geography | North America 44 percent, UAE 24 percent, Europe 15 percent, Asia Pacific 13 percent |
What it means for business in the UAE
Nothing in this transaction changes a rule, a fee or a procedure for companies operating in the Emirates. It is a capital allocation decision, and its relevance is as a signal about where Abu Dhabi money is going and how it prices Chinese consumer risk.
The corridor it sits in is already the UAE’s largest. Non oil trade between the UAE and China reached USD 111.5 billion in 2025, up 24.5 percent, with a stated ambition of USD 300 billion by 2030. In the first half of 2026 China remained the UAE’s biggest trading partner with AED 180.7 billion of non oil trade, ahead of Switzerland at AED 138.4 billion and India at AED 107.5 billion, within total non oil foreign trade of AED 1.94 trillion. The two countries signed a framework investment agreement on 15 April 2026, and China is the UAE’s fourth largest source of foreign direct investment at 6.3 percent of stock as of 2024.
Three practical readings follow for companies here. First, sovereign and quasi sovereign capital from Abu Dhabi is a realistic co investor for consumer platforms with genuine scale and clean reporting, which is a different question from whether it will look at an early stage venture. Second, the pricing of this deal, a control free minority position bought through a fund vehicle with bank financing, is the structure that mid market sellers in the Gulf increasingly encounter, and it matches the pattern in regional deal flow where the UAE accounted for the bulk of GCC merger and acquisition value in the first half of 2026. Third, a Chinese consumer brand with a functioning UAE holding structure has an easier route into Gulf franchising and supply agreements than one that has to start from scratch when a partner appears.
What to watch next
- Confirmation that the customary closing conditions have been satisfied and the transfer of the 241,095,268 preferred shares has completed.
- Whether Mubadala exercises the right to nominate a director once its holding passes the 5 percent threshold.
- Third quarter 2026 results and whether same store sales at self operated outlets stay negative for a third quarter.
- Any concrete step towards a United States relisting, which would change how the preferred shares are valued and exited.
- Pace of Luckin’s expansion outside China, currently the United States, Singapore and Malaysia, and whether the Gulf appears on that map.
- Mubadala’s next Asia transactions, as the fund works towards roughly a quarter of the portfolio in the region.
How Atlant Capital can help
If your business sits in the UAE to China corridor, the structure comes before the deal. We set up mainland and free zone companies for trading, food and beverage, franchising and investment holding activities, including the additional approvals that food related licences require, through our company formation service. We open corporate and personal accounts with UAE banks for import settlement, supplier payments and shareholder flows through our bank account opening service. And we handle residence and employment visas, Emirates ID and medical testing for owners, managers and staff through our work visa and residency service, so that a signed commercial agreement is not held up by an unregistered entity or a missing signatory.
Conclusion
Mubadala is paying about USD 1 billion for a block of preferred shares that Centurium acquired for a fraction of that price after Luckin’s 2020 collapse, without disturbing Centurium’s control and without putting a single unit of new capital into the operating company. For Abu Dhabi it is a measured step in a stated plan to lift Asia towards a quarter of a USD 385 billion portfolio. For Luckin it is validation from a sovereign investor at a moment when the chain is adding stores faster than it is adding revenue per store. Both readings are defensible, and the third quarter numbers will tell which one the market believes.
FAQ
How much is Mubadala investing in Luckin Coffee and when was it agreed?
The transaction is worth approximately USD 1 billion, about AED 3.67 billion. The Investment Agreement is dated 5 September 2026 and was disclosed on 9 September 2026 in Amendment No. 8 to a Schedule 13D filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Closing is subject to customary conditions and no completion date has been published.
Does Luckin Coffee receive the USD 1 billion?
No. This is a secondary purchase, not a new share issuance. A new fund vehicle with Mubadala as a major limited partner is buying 241,095,268 senior convertible preferred shares from two existing Centurium Capital funds, so the proceeds go to the selling funds. Luckin Coffee itself receives nothing, and existing shareholders are not diluted.
Does Centurium Capital lose control of Luckin Coffee?
No. Centurium’s beneficial ownership is unchanged, and the Investment Agreement obliges Centurium Investment Limited to retain legal and beneficial ownership of all Class B shares until the partnership fully disposes of its Luckin securities. As of 28 February 2026 Centurium held 23.1 percent of the equity and 47.8 percent of the voting rights. Mubadala takes a minority position with the right to nominate one director while it holds at least 5 percent.
Does this deal change anything for companies operating in the UAE?
It changes no rule, fee or procedure. Its practical value is as a signal: Abu Dhabi capital is moving towards Asia, which Mubadala wants at roughly a quarter of its USD 385 billion portfolio against 13 percent today, and the UAE to China corridor is already the country’s largest, at USD 111.5 billion of non oil trade in 2025 and AED 180.7 billion in the first half of 2026.
