All sizzle and all stake: Salt Bae’s restaurant owner to sell stake to Qatar wealth fund
Internet meme and meat seasoner Salt Bae’s steakhouse owner is in talks to sell a 20 per cent stake to Qatar’s $450 billion wealth fund.
Dream Group, owner of restaurants including the Nusr-Et steakhouse – which was founded by Turkish butcher and salt sprinkler Nusret Gökçe, who later became an Instagram sensation – confirmed discussions with the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) to sell a stake for about $300 million, Bloomberg reported.
The deal could boost the valuation of D.ream Group, owned by Turkish billionaire Ferit Sahenk’s Dogus Holding ASl, to a ‘suave’ $1.5bn.
Dogus confirmed discussions with the QIA, but declined to provide further details.
The move comes as Dogus seeks to raise cash and deliver on pledges it made to banks as part of a debt restructuring. The firm had already agreed to sell a 30 per cent stake in a high-end Istanbul shopping center to QIA in 2020.
Investors in the company include Singapore’s Temasek and London-based private equity firm Metric Capital Partners, who in 2018 bought a 17 per cent stake in a $200m deal, pushing the firm’s valuation to $1.18bn.