Luckin Coffee’s implosion has shattered the faith of some international investors when it comes to Chinese companies listed on the world’s biggest stock exchange.
The New York-traded shares of the coffee chain — which was often touted as China’s Starbucks rival — have tumbled more than 80 per cent since it was revealed that an internal investigation found hundreds of millions of dollars of its sales last year were “fabricated”. Trading in the stock is currently frozen.
The debacle has turned the spotlight back on the accounting risks faced by investors in US-listed Chinese companies, and provided further ammunition for Washington’s China hawks.