Salt Bae restaurant owner may sell stake to Qatar wealth fund for $300 million
It has been trying to raise cash, deliver on pledges it made for debt restructuring
The owner of the Nusr-Et steakhouse, known by its founder’s Salt Bae meme, is in talks to sell a stake to Qatar’s $450 billion wealth fund.
D.ream Group, owned by Turkish billionaire Ferit Sahenk’s Dogus Holding AS, may sell a 20 per cent stake to the Qatar Investment Authority for about $300 million, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. A deal at that price would imply a valuation of $1.5 billion.
The talks were reported by Turkey’s Sozcu newspaper earlier on Tuesday. Dogus confirmed discussions with the QIA, but declined to provide further details. The Qatari fund wasn’t immediately available for comment.
Dogus has been trying to raise cash and deliver on pledges it made to banks as part of a debt restructuring. In 2020, the firm agreed to sell a 30 per cent stake in a high-end Istanbul shopping center to an arm of the QIA.
D.ream Group owns stakes in restaurants including Nusr-Et, founded by butcher Nusret Gokce. Investors in the company include Singapore’s Temasek and London-based private equity firm Metric Capital Partners, who bought a 17 per cent stake for $200 million in 2018, valuing the company at $1.18 billion.