Bawangchaji is not afraid of the Sino-US trade war. Its stock price soared by nearly 50% on the first day of its IPO in the United States

Despite the ongoing tension in US-China trade, the Chinese chain tea beverage company Chagee (霸王茶姬) saw its stock price surge nearly 50% on its first day of Nasdaq IPO. Its founder and CEO Zhang Junxie's net assets reached $2.1 billion, placing him on the Bloomberg billionaires list. Although the US IPO market is almost stagnant, and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent previously suggested the possibility of delisting Chinese company stocks from US exchanges, Chagee Holdings Ltd. priced its IPO at $28 per share, at the upper end of the expected range of $26 to $28. Chagee sold 14.7 million shares, raising $411 million, with the company valued at approximately $5 billion. The stock traded on Nasdaq on Thursday (4/17) under the ticker "CHA", opening at $33.75 per share. Chagee's stock initially surged 49% but gave back most of its gains during afternoon trading. The company plans to open its first US store at Westfield Century City in Los Angeles later this spring. According to Bloomberg, founder Zhang Junxie established Chagee in Yunnan province in 2017. The company's name is inspired by the classical Chinese tragedy "Farewell My Concubine", featuring a logo with a female performer from Peking Opera. Unlike other bubble tea brands, Chagee focuses on premium milk tea using traditional Chinese teas like green, red, and oolong. Its stores blend Eastern tea culture with modern design, offering an immersive experience with long counters where customers can watch tea preparation. Drinks are priced slightly above $2. According to the prospectus, China's ready-to-drink tea market is expected to grow from 273 billion yuan last year to 426 billion yuan (about $58 billion) by 2028. High-end tea drinks, averaging 17 yuan ($2.30) per cup, held 26% market share last year, up from 11% in 2019. Chagee operates over 6,440 stores, mostly in China and with some presence in Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Approximately 6,270 are franchised stores, with 169 company-owned.