Salt Bae restaurant owner Nusr-Et to sell 20% stake to Qatar Investment Authority

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% stake to the Qatar Investment Authority for about $300 million, people familiar with the matter 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% 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% stake for $200 million in 2018, valuing the company at $1.18 billion.

— With assistance by Asli Kandemir, and Archana Narayanan

Bloomberg