Spain’s Pacha Group May Buy Hakkasan and Yauatcha

(Bloomberg) -- Hakkasan Group’s Abu Dhabi owner is in talks to sell the restaurant and nightclub operator, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The business -- whose assets include the eponymous Cantonese fine-dining chain, teahouse Yauatcha as well as other restaurants and clubs -- has drawn interest from Spanish dance-club operator Pacha Group and boutique investment firm Certares, the people said, declining to be identified as the deliberations are confidential. Hakkasan is owned by Alliance International Investment, which is now part of Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co., they said.

No final decisions have been made and the talks may not lead to a sale, the people said. Representatives for Mubadala declined to comment. Spokesmen for Alliance International, Pacha and Certares didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

A March 2017 plan to bring Hakkasan into Sam Nazarian’s SBE Entertainment Group -- expected to close within 60 days of SBE disclosing that they were in advanced talks -- fell through this year. France’s Accor SA has since entered into exclusive talks to acquire a 50 percent stake in SBE, which is the owner of hotel brands including Redbury and Mondrian and restaurant chains such as Umami Burger.

Meanwhile, private equity fund Trilantic, MCH Private Equity and GPF Capital in February 2017 agreed to buy a stake in closely held Pacha Group -- which runs clubs on the Spanish island of Ibiza, as well as Germany, Australia and Brazil, among others -- for an undisclosed amount.

Certares, founded in 2012, is led by veteran banker Michael Gregory O’Hara. The firm’s investment portfolio is dominated by travel and tourism assets, including stakes in American Express Global Business Travel and Travel Leaders Group, according to its website.

--With assistance from Rodrigo Orihuela, Mahmoud Habboush and Kiel Porter.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ruth David in London at rdavid9@bloomberg.net;Archana Narayanan in Dubai at anarayanan16@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Aaron Kirchfeld at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net, Chitra Somayaji, Amy Thomson

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