Centurium Capital

Private equity

Centurium Capital is a China-focused private equity firm led by chairman and chief executive Hui Li, and it holds the two coffee companies Ferret tracks under it at different stages. At Luckin Coffee it is the controlling shareholder: through affiliates it held 7.6% of the Class A shares, all of the ten-vote Class B shares and all of the senior preferred shares as of February 2026, which together carry 47.8% of the vote, and Hui Li has chaired Luckin's board since April 2025. Abu Dhabi's Mubadala agreed in September 2026 to take a significant minority stake alongside it. Its Blue Bottle position is newer and less settled: Nestle confirmed the sale of Blue Bottle's cafe and retail operations to Centurium in April 2026, and as of September 2026 no source has confirmed the deal formally closed.

2 companies on Ferret

Luckin Coffee

Coffee · 36,310+ locations — The app-only Chinese chain that reached Manhattan last year runs more than 36,000 stores worldwide. Nasdaq delisted its shares in 2020; they trade over the counter now, and Centurium Capital, a Chinese private equity firm, holds effective control.

Mixed picture

Blue Bottle

Coffee · 140+ locations — Blue Bottle is the craft-coffee pioneer Nestlé bought control of in 2017 and is now selling, at a markdown, to Luckin Coffee's private equity backer. Along the way its baristas have unionized, struck and filed twenty unfair-labor-practice charges.

Red Flag

Firm data last updated September 2026