TMTPOST -- Starbucks’ China business has drawn initial offers that value the unit at as much as $5 billion, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter, underscoring the high stakes in one of the Seattle-based coffee giant’s most important yet most challenging markets.
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The bids, which have not been reported previously, place Starbucks China among the most valuable potential divestments of a China unit by a global consumer company in recent years. The offers could help Starbucks push forward with a partial sale at a time when economic growth in the world’s second-largest economy remains sluggish and domestic rivals are gaining ground.
Starbucks invited around 10 potential buyers to submit non-binding bids by early September, Reuters reported last month. Most bidders valued the business at roughly 10 times Starbucks China’s projected 2025 EBITDA of $400 million to $500 million, the people said. At least one bidder submitted a valuation multiple in the “high teens,” one of the people added.
That puts Starbucks’ China business on a similar footing with its biggest competitor, Luckin Coffee, which trades at about nine times its projected 12-month EBITDA. Luckin has rapidly expanded in China with cheaper products and a deeper push into smaller cities, eroding Starbucks’ dominance.
By comparison, Starbucks’ global enterprise value stands at 20.6 times its trailing 12-month EBITDA, according to LSEG data. The company’s market capitalization was roughly $99 billion as of Thursday.
China is Starbucks’ second-largest market, accounting for more than a fifth of its stores worldwide. Yet its market share has shrunk sharply to 14% in 2023 from 34% in 2019, according to Euromonitor International.
The company has rolled out rare price cuts for some non-coffee drinks and introduced more localized offerings to woo customers. Comparable-store sales in China rose 2% in the quarter ended June 29, following flat growth in the prior period, marking its third consecutive quarter of revenue growth in the country.
“International markets delivered record-breaking sales growth, with China returning to growth,” Starbucks said in its most recent earnings release. The company declined to comment on the China valuation or details of the ongoing sale process.
Starbucks has not determined the size of the stake it will sell in the China business, according to Reuters reporting last month. CEO Brian Niccol said on an earnings call in July that the company intends to retain a “meaningful” stake, ruling out a full sale.
Interested parties include global private equity firms and Chinese investors. Among those invited to bid were Carlyle, EQT, Hillhouse Investment, Primavera Capital, Bain Capital, KKR & Co., and tech giant Tencent. It remains unclear whether all submitted offers. Bain, EQT, Carlyle, Primavera, and Tencent declined to comment, while the others did not respond.
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