Centurium Capital's acquisition aligns with Luckin Coffee's broader premiumization strategy, signaling the investment firm's continued interest in high-end coffee brands. The firm has previously explored opportunities involving Starbucks and Costa Coffee.

Nathanael Lim, Asia-Pacific insight manager on beverages, Euromonitor International, said:"Centurium's deal with Blue Bottle would reinforce its dominance in coffee by shielding Luckin from competitive threats, while advancing its long-standing ambition to enter the premium segment."

Lim said that the deal would accelerate Luckin's international footprint in the US via Blue Bottle, while giving Blue Bottle scale and channel access in China and Southeast Asia, intensifying competition with Starbucks.

"More broadly, this deal signals accelerating consolidation in China and globally, favoring well-capitalized players as weaker competitors exit," Lim added.

According to Euromonitor International, Luckin Coffee's brand shares under chained specialist coffee and tea shops saw a significant increase in China, from 24 percent to 33 percent from 2023-2025.

Its expansion in Singapore and Malaysia has also seen success, with brand shares in Singapore jumping from 2 percent to 10 percent from 2023-2025 and reaching 1 percent in Malaysia in 2025.

There will be huge potential for chained specialist coffee and tea shops in Asia-Pacific region with the compound annual growth rate in China, Singapore and Malaysia forecast to reach 12 percent, 9 percent and 13 percent, respectively, from 2026 to 2030, while the global market will only rise by an estimated 6 percent.

In a parallel development, JDE Peet's, the parent of high-end coffee chains Peet's Coffee, reported a 15.3 percent increase in organic sales for the full-year 2025. Peet's Chinese stores drove double-digit growth, even as same-store sales and average transaction values in the US declined slightly.

Peet's told the National Business Daily that it aims to expand its Chinese footprint to as many as 400 stores in 2026, up from nearly 300 at the end of 2025. The company highlighted long-term optimism for the Chinese coffee market despite rising competition.