Hakkasan serves up new luxury restaurant and eyes expansion



Hakkasan, the upmarket Chinese restaurant company owned by the Abu Dhabi Government's Tasameem, expects to open its first restaurant in the capital tomorrow at the Emirates Palace. Hakkasan is pushing ahead with its growth ambitions despite suffering a loss last year and has identified other sites in the Middle East as part of a global expansion.

"Next year we want to open in Shanghai, Paris, New York and other sites in the Middle East," said Niall Howard, the chief executive of Hakkasan. Its flagship outlet is its Michelin-starred restaurant in London's West End. It also opened a branch in Miami last year. "Abu Dhabi became our first preference partly because of the owner and partly because the Emirates Palace is a perfect match for us in terms of our global luxury brand," Mr Howard said.

Tasameem became Hakkasan's parent company in December 2007 when it bought 90 per cent of the business for US$60 million (Dh220.3m). The remaining 10 per cent is owned by a family trust. ADIA bought the shares from Alan Yau, the Hong Kong-born restaurateur who also founded the Wagamama chain. Hakkasan has a management agreement for the Abu Dhabi restaurant, but the company is looking at developing properties in Dubai, Shanghai and New York.

"The owner is now investing in new restaurants," Mr Howard said. "They're very excited about the growth prospects of the company. We'll have a mixture of management agreements and wholly owned restaurants," he said. The company is planning to open another restaurant in Mayfair in London in November and one in Mumbai by the end of the year, Mr Howard said. A restaurant Hakkasan had in Istanbul closed because it was in the wrong location and performed poorly, he added.

Hakkasan lost £6.3m (Dh33.4m) in the 12 months to May last year, as its turnover fell 7.25 per cent and it cancelled a project it had planned for Berkeley Street, London, opting instead for a £12.1m project elsewhere in the city. The company added that Tasameem had lent £2.7m for the development of the new restaurant in Bruton Street, Mayfair. Hakkasan wrote off more than £4.2m in provisions and cancelled project expenditure after it decided not to go ahead with the Berkeley Street restaurant.

"The company will be reliant on the provision of continuing financial support from Tasameem to fund its operations and development plans," Hakkasan said, and added that Tasameem had committed to provide financial support for the next year. Locations Hakkasan is considering in the region are Dubai, Doha and Beirut, as well as other sites in Abu Dhabi. "We're probably not in a hurry in Dubai because we want to give Emirates Palace time to establish itself," said Mr Howard. "We've visited sites in these other locations and we're just in discussions with various partners and developers."

Hakkasan also owns another Michelin-starred London restaurant, Yauatcha. "The underlying restaurants are trading profitably," said Mr Howard. @Email:rbundhun@thenational.ae This article has been altered to correct the statement that Tasameem was 'a property arm of the government-owned Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
ATP WORLD No 1

2004 Roger Federer

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The Sand Castle

Director: Matty Brown

Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5

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Company name: Play:Date

Launched: March 2017 on UAE Mother’s Day

Founder: Shamim Kassibawi

Based: Dubai with operations in the UAE and US

Sector: Tech 

Size: 20 employees

Stage of funding: Seed

Investors: Three founders (two silent co-founders) and one venture capital fund

Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.

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How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
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More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Essentials

The flights

Emirates and Etihad fly direct from the UAE to Geneva from Dh2,845 return, including taxes. The flight takes 6 hours. 

The package

Clinique La Prairie offers a variety of programmes. A six-night Master Detox costs from 14,900 Swiss francs (Dh57,655), including all food, accommodation and a set schedule of medical consultations and spa treatments.

Sun jukebox

Rufus Thomas, Bear Cat (The Answer to Hound Dog) (1953)

This rip-off of Leiber/Stoller’s early rock stomper brought a lawsuit against Phillips and necessitated Presley’s premature sale to RCA.

Elvis Presley, Mystery Train (1955)

The B-side of Presley’s final single for Sun bops with a drummer-less groove.

Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, Folsom Prison Blues (1955)

Originally recorded for Sun, Cash’s signature tune was performed for inmates of the titular prison 13 years later.

Carl Perkins, Blue Suede Shoes (1956)

Within a month of Sun’s February release Elvis had his version out on RCA.

Roy Orbison, Ooby Dooby (1956)

An essential piece of irreverent juvenilia from Orbison.

Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls of Fire (1957)

Lee’s trademark anthem is one of the era’s best-remembered – and best-selling – songs.