Hakkasan Sold To Fund Expansion

ALAN Yau has sold his central London restaurant Hakkasan and Yauatcha to Tasameen, a property arm of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, for $60m in a move which will help holding company Hakkasan fund its international expansion plans.

Four Hakkasan and two Yauatcha openings are anticipated over the next two years

Hakkasan is set to open in Istanbul in February 2008, Abu Dhabi in August 2008, Miami in October 2008 and Shanghai in spring 2009.

Yauatcha’s will also open in Kuala Lumpur in October 2008 and Dubai in October 2008.

Tasameem is providing $100m working capital to be injected into the business to help fund expansion.

Yau maintains a stake and has been appointed CEO of the company and, as such, will continue to oversee the operations and daily running of the business and will be “very busy with the running of the current units and the planned international openings”, according to his spokesperson.

Yau has just opened Sake no Hana in Mayfair on the former Schumi site. He also owns three of the casual Busaba Eathai in London and will open a fourth in Whiteley’s shopping centre in April.

The Busaba Eathai’s and Sake no Hana were not affected by the sale of Hakkasan Ltd.