(Yicai Global) Aug. 11 -- Chinese coffeehouse chain Luckin Coffee today denied that it was seeking a new round of financing, saying it had “no financing-related arrangements in the near future”, National Business Daily reported.

Yesterday, Chinese financial news outlet Cailian Press reported that Xiamen, Fujian province-based Luckin Coffee was in discussions with investors, including Focustar Capital, the affiliated investment institution under Fivestar Holdings, on a new round of financing.

National Business Daily did not provide further details. But Focustar Capital confirmed that it is a potential investor for Luckin Coffee’s new round of fundraising in the Cailian Press report.

Founded in October 2017, Luckin Coffee is a coffeehouse chain with nearly 4,000 self-operated stores and 1,175 franchisees in China as of the end of May.

Luckin Coffee went public on the Nasdaq in May 2019. It was delisted in June last year after a CNY2.2-billion (USD339.2 million) accounting fraud was exposed two months earlier in April.

In July, there were media reports that Luckin Coffee planned to secure an overall profit this year. And the coffee chain operator already achieved this goal for two consecutive months in May and June, earning profit worth tens of millions of Chinese yuan.

Luckin Coffee issued its audited earnings report for 2019 in June, which showed that the company suffered an operating loss of CNY3.21 billion, more than double or up 101 percent from the CNY1.6-billion loss in 2018. It has not yet issued its earnings report for last year.

Editor: Peter Thomas