China's Luckin Coffee sets terms for US IPO, to raise $480m

NEW YORK - Chinese coffee startup Luckin Coffee announced the deal size of its proposed initial public offering (IPO) on Monday, planning to raise $480 million in the US equity market.

The capital will be gathered by offering 30 million American Depository Shares (ADSs) at a price range of $15 to $17 a share.

At the midpoint of the proposed range, the Xiamen-headquartered coffee chain will command a fully diluted market value of $3.7 billion.

Louis Dreyfus Company, a global merchant firm of agricultural goods, has agreed to invest $50 million in a concurrent private placement at the IPO price.

The retailer, viewed as a strong rival for Starbucks in China, intends to list under the symbol LK on the Nasdaq.

Luckin Coffee has completed its Series B+ round of financing worth $150 million, the company said on April 18, which lifted the company's valuation to about $2.9 billion.

The funding, among which $125 million were invested by BlackRock, came four months after the coffee retailer picked up $200 million in investment.

Founded in 2017, the retailer has been expanding at a rapid pace so far this year, with new stores opened in 14 more Chinese cities, which brought the total number of cities with Luckin outlets to 36, the company said on April 10.

In January, the startup announced plans to open 2,500 new stores in 2019, with total stores topping 4,500 by the end of this year.