How full equity buyouts could help China’s cooling bubble tea sector turn a new leaf

Fuelled by the recent bubble tea boom and an intensely competitive market, financial investors have shown growing interest in the sector’s major brands, shifting their playbook from early-stage bets and initial public offering subscriptions to full equity buyouts. Growth of mid to high single digits was now expected for the industry in China, down from the double-digit growth projected in previous years, analysts said. The slowdown followed years of capital being raised and deployed to chase the...