From a valuation of 300 million to 2 billion.
<img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://inews.gtimg.com/om_bt/OPCn6RVc4mPBucDlRvuuSt0mAKZeygnA1ltB-_nBzxF6UAA/641?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" alt="Image" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://inews.gtimg.com/om_bt/OPCn6RVc4mPBucDlRvuuSt0mAKZeygnA1ltB-_nBzxF6UAA/641"/><img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://inews.gtimg.com/om_bt/O_KCC-028uzXNYNiQOk3Fcp0yIrQiju6BiKF8X2PqxLCgAA/641?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" alt="Image" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://inews.gtimg.com/om_bt/O_KCC-028uzXNYNiQOk3Fcp0yIrQiju6BiKF8X2PqxLCgAA/641"/> &#34;Investor Network&#34; Jiang Ji
A cup of bubble tea is brewing a capital game worth 2 billion dollars.
In early 2026, the veteran American private equity giant TA Associates is commissioning JP Morgan to advance the sale of its wholly-owned global tea brand &#34;Gong Cha,&#34; with market rumors estimating a valuation of 2 billion dollars (approximately 14 billion yuan).
This is not a spur-of-the-moment cash-out, but a standard move as the PE fund's nearly seven-year strategy of &#34;capital empowerment + globalization&#34; enters a harvest period. However, behind this transaction, the alternating warmth and cold of the macro consumption cycle, the deadlock in the game of potential buyers, and the antitrust reviews involving multiple countries and geopolitical risks from CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States) all cast uncertainty over this potential deal. When the pricing power of a cup of milk tea is no longer determined by the traffic of a single market, but calibrated by the precision of the global supply chain, the underlying logic of new tea drinks is being rewritten.
Seven Years of Migration from a Street Corner in Taiwan to Headquarters in London
Let's turn back the clock to 2006, on the streets of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, where Gong Cha, with its pioneering &#34;milk cap tea,&#34; early on positioned itself at the innovative forefront of freshly made tea drinks. However, Gong Cha's real leap began in 2019. That year, TA Associates acquired the brand entirely from Unison Capital for approximately 288 million to 300 million dollars and officially relocated the brand's global headquarters to London, UK, opening a new chapter in capital.
Since then, Gong Cha has entered the fast lane of globalization. As of March 2026, Gong Cha's footprint has spread to over 30 countries and regions, with a total of more than 2,200 stores. Gong Cha chose not to engage in close combat with peers in the Chinese market but instead directed resources towards high-ticket areas such as South Korea, Japan, North America, and Australia. Recently, its reach has further extended to the Middle East and North Africa. This &#34;lightweight headquarters + deep regional localization&#34; structure has allowed Gong Cha to accumulate strong anti-cyclical resilience over more than a decade of multinational operations. In contrast, its brand assets in the mainland Chinese market have been severely damaged due to the rampant imitation caused by the inability to exclusively register the &#34;Gong Cha&#34; trademark early on, with the number of stores now reduced to less than 300, forming a unique pattern of &#34;flowers blooming inside the wall, fragrance outside.&#34;
The 2 Billion Dollar Ledger: Asset-Light Model and Compound Growth Machine
Capital never believes in sentiment, only in cash flow. In 2024, Gong Cha delivered an impressive performance: total system sales reached $600 million (approximately 4.4 billion RMB), with group direct revenue increasing by 12% year-on-year to $190 million. The number of stores steadily increased from over 2,000 in 2023 to 2,162 in 2024, and is expected to surpass 2,200 by early 2026.
The core support for Gong Cha's high valuation lies in its &#34;heavy franchising&#34; light asset model. This means that the headquarters does not have to bear the heavy costs of direct store rents, labor, and depreciation, but instead earns stable cash flow through franchise fees, supply chain profits, and equipment sales. This &#34;light assets, good cash flow, high profit margin&#34; structure allows its EBITDA profit margin to far exceed that of traditional catering enterprises.
Let's do a simple calculation: If it bought in for less than $300 million back then, it could now sell for $2 billion, resulting in an unrealized gain of nearly $1.7 billion, with an overall return multiple close to 7 times. In today's private equity landscape, which increasingly seeks certainty, this is almost a perfect &#34;time rose.&#34;
Dislocated Competition: When &#34;Going Global&#34; Meets &#34;Globalization&#34;
Looking back domestically, the ready-to-drink tea market has long entered a phase of stock competition. Brands like Mixue Ice City, Gu Ming, Cha Bai Dao, and NAYUKI are engaged in close combat amid price wars and product homogenization, with profit margins being severely squeezed, making &#34;involution&#34; the norm in the industry. Therefore, &#34;going global&#34; has become a collective narrative for breakthrough, but most brands are still in the early stages of single-point testing and supply chain restructuring.
The value of Gong Cha lies precisely in this &#34;dislocation.&#34; It has already moved beyond the trial phase of &#34;going global&#34; and entered the true &#34;deep waters of globalization.&#34; Brand recognition, localized R&amp;D, cross-jurisdiction compliance, and regional warehousing and distribution—these nodes that require lengthy trial and error to connect have been completed by Gong Cha over more than a decade. This foundation, which does not rely on a single market and has a highly diversified income structure, possesses a natural premium appeal for international capital seeking stable cash flow.
Of course, beneath the halo, there are also concerns. The expansion of the global franchising model is not without challenges. As the number of stores increases, consistency in quality control, regional supply chain responsiveness, and the costs of food safety and labor compliance in different countries continue to test management capabilities. To address this, Gong Cha has launched the &#34;Gong Cha 2.0&#34; model and smart tea-making equipment, attempting to enhance standardization and efficiency through digital means.
After the Hand-off: Transfer of Pricing Power and New Industry Coordinates
Why did TA Associates choose to press the &#34;sell&#34; button at this time? The answer lies in the underlying logic of private equity: the 7-year holding period has come to an end, and Gong Cha has transitioned from the &#34;growth phase&#34; to the &#34;mature phase,&#34; with the value release window fully opened. At this point, exiting to lock in profits and deliver returns to fund LPs is an inevitable part of the capital cycle. Additionally, there are reports that TA may adjust its investment portfolio in the future, shrinking its consumer goods line and focusing on core sectors such as technology and healthcare, making this sale a reflection of strategic focus
If this transaction is successful, it will become a watershed in the valuation system of new tea beverages. It indicates that the pricing logic of the capital market for tea brands is shifting from &#34;single market store growth and market share&#34; to &#34;cross-border operational efficiency, brand premium, and free cash flow generation capability.&#34; The $2 billion anchor point is essentially pricing the validated global system capabilities.
For Chinese brands still struggling in the red sea, the change of ownership and growth path of Gong Cha serves as a mirror. It confirms a simple business truth: traffic will dry up, price wars will backfire, and only by establishing a business foundation that is cross-regional, cross-cultural, and resilient to cycles can one secure a ticket for the next round of industrial cycles.
As capital completes its rounds of handover, the narrative of new tea beverages should also turn the page. No longer obsessed with the queuing spectacle of a single city on a single day, but rather calculating the circulation efficiency of each cup of tea within the global network; no longer defining brands with &#34;internet celebrities,&#34; but measuring value with &#34;supply chain resilience&#34; and &#34;localization depth.&#34; The handover of Gong Cha may just be the prologue, but it has clearly delineated a navigable route: the ultimate fate of Chinese tea beverages lies not in the quagmire of internal competition, but in the recalibration of global coordinates. What do you think? Let's discuss in the comments (produced by Thinking Finance)

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International capital is liquidating Gong Cha, with its valuation expected to reach $2 billion. The American private equity giant TA Associates has commissioned JP Morgan to advance the sale of Gong Cha, which involves uncertainties related to the macro consumption cycle, potential buyer negotiations, and antitrust reviews. Since being acquired by TA Associates in 2019, Gong Cha has expanded to over 30 countries globally, with more than 2,200 stores, but has faced challenges in the Chinese market due to trademark issues, reducing its store count to less than 300

International capital quietly liquidates, to whom will Gong Cha sail?