Lucky wants to buy Blue Bottle Coffee or % Arabia?! Netizen: Anta in the coffee industry

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Recently, Bloomberg released a report saying that Luckin, the largest coffee chain in China, and its main shareholder Dazheng Capital are considering bidding for Blue Bottle Coffee, a boutique coffee brand owned by Nestlé. The move aims to enhance Luckin's brand awareness outside China and enter the field of boutique coffee.

Two weeks ago, Reuters reported that Nestlé and Wall Street investment bank Morgan Stanley have cooperated to conduct a strategic assessment of the future of its chain brand Blue Bottle Coffee, and revealed that it may sell the physical store business of Blue Bottle Coffee. Sources pointed out that its final transaction price is expected to be significantly lower than the acquisition valuation of US$700 million that year.

Unexpectedly, not long after the news came out, Blue Bottle Coffee, known as the "Apple of the coffee industry", would be targeted by Lucky and Dazheng Capital. Bloomberg quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that Luckin and Dazheng Capital have been looking for potential acquisition targets, and that in addition to Blue Bottle Coffee, Luckin has also targeted the China operator of another well-known boutique coffee brand %Arabica.

People familiar with the matter said that compared with the global layout of Blue Bottle Coffee, %Arabica, invested by private equity firm PAG, is favored by consumers for its Japanese minimalist style and high-quality coffee beans. Its China business is more focused and has a stable customer base in China, so it has become an alternative for Lucky's bidding.

In fact, in mid-November, the industry spread that Coca-Cola planned to sell part of the business of Costa, a well-known British chain brand it bought in 2018. At that time, media reported that the proposed sale attracted the attention of Ruixing and Dazheng Capital. Sources revealed that Ruixing was indeed following up on the Costa acquisition and believed that it might participate in the Costa bidding.

But recently, the Financial Times quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that Coca-Cola's proposed sale of Costa is at risk of breaking down. It mentioned that Dazheng Capital may have withdrawn at a later stage of the Costa bidding process and failed to enter the final exclusive negotiation process. However, some analysts pointed out that the brand positioning of Costa, which focuses on the boutique line, partially overlaps with Luckin's existing product line, believing that this may be one of the reasons for Luckin's withdrawal from the Costa bidding.

Although the plan to bid for Costa fell through, the successive news of Lucky's acquisition of other brands could not help but attract the attention of netizens. Many people jokingly call Ruixing, which has launched the "buy, buy" model,"Anta in the coffee industry"(Note: Anta has acquired many internationally renowned sports brands such as Archaeopteryx, Fila, Willson, and Desante through acquisition). Some nosy people have suggested "just package and purchase all Piye Tim Mstand grid together."

In addition to teasing, some users are also worried that once Blue Bottle Coffee is successfully acquired from Nestlé by Lucky, it may affect its original brand positioning."Once it is acquired, it will become low-end and you won't drink it","Come on, blue bottles will cost 9.9 yuan in the future."

However, people familiar with the matter said that discussions about Lucky's bid for Blue Bottle Coffee and %Arabica are still at an early stage and may not reach a purchase agreement in the end. Representatives for Nestle, PAG and Coca-Cola declined to comment, while Dazheng Capital, Luckin Coffee and %Arabica did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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