Society’s king of clubs bags a £200m payday
After tycoon’s £1.2m Halloween bash, Mail reveals slice of his party empire’s been sold to Qataris
THE ‘king of clubs’ Richard Caring has become the first billiondollar tycoon of British nightlife.
The magnate owns the nation’s most famous private members’ club, Annabel’s, as well as fashionable London restaurants including The Ivy, J Sheekey and Le Caprice.
Now the Daily Mail can reveal that he has sold 25 per cent of his empire to the former prime minister of Qatar for £200million. The deal values his business at a ‘staggering’ $1billion (£800million).
‘This mega-deal puts a staggering price on the most glamorous stable of restaurants in the world,’ an insider said. ‘At a time when household names such as Jamie Oliver and Patisserie Valerie have been forced to close outlets, it’s a remarkable vote of confidence in Richard Caring’s vision.’
Bought for £90million in 2007 from society figure Mark Birley, the group – which also includes Harry’s Bar and Mark’s Club in Mayfair – has proved an astute investment by Mr Caring.
The 71-year-old, whose fortune was previously estimated at £650million, started his career in clothing, before buying the Caprice Holdings group for £31.5million in 2005.
A flamboyant figure, Mr Caring paid £150,000 earlier this year to dine with Boris Johnson at his own venue, Mark’s Club. He made the donation to the Conservatives during their fundraiser at the Hurlingham Club in Fulham, south-west London, where he sat next to thenprime minister Theresa May.
The deal comes after the extravagant renovation of Annabel’s, where diners can now choose from four restaurants – including a French-style brasserie with an £81 cote de boeuf and Royal Beluga Imperial caviar at £2,250 for 250g.
Last year Mr Caring spent around £65million moving the club – which was opened in 1963 by Mr Birley and named after his wife Lady Annabel Goldsmith – to a Grade I-listed townhouse two doors down on Berkeley Square. The exclusive venue has witnessed the comings and goings of the creme de la creme of British society – with Princess Diana visiting for the hen night of Sarah, Duchess of York. The Queen also visited for the 70th birthday of her friend the Countess of Airlie in 2003.
Just this week Mr Caring hosted a typically ostentatious Halloween party – said to have cost up to £1.2million – where he held court dressed as a ‘white walker’ from Game of Thrones. Guests included socialite Poppy Delevingne. The deal is understood to have been put together by Alexander Spencer-Churchill, grandson of the 10th Duke of Marlborough. He is Mr Caring’s right-hand man and has been travelling between London and the Qatari capital, Doha.
It could help fund further expansion of the group, which has already turned The Ivy into a successful chain of more than 30 restaurants. It gives the former Qatari prime minister, Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani – known as HBJ – the option to buy a further 25 per cent of the group, depending on its performance.
The transaction is the latest British purchase for HBJ, who oversaw a string of eye-catching deals – including Qatar’s bailout of Barclays and its swoop on Harrods.
Other London landmarks owned by the Qataris include The Shard, the Olympic Village and Chelsea Barracks. Mr Caring declined to comment.