Turkish chef Nusret Gokce, left, also known as ‘Salt Bae’, is a favourite of stars such as Diddy and Naomi Campbell. Instagram / Diddy
Turkish chef Nusret Gokce, left, also known as ‘Salt Bae’, is a favourite of stars such as Diddy and Naomi Campbell. Instagram / Diddy
Turkish chef Nusret Gokce, left, also known as ‘Salt Bae’, is a favourite of stars such as Diddy and Naomi Campbell. Instagram / Diddy
Turkish chef Nusret Gokce, left, also known as ‘Salt Bae’, is a favourite of stars such as Diddy and Naomi Campbell. Instagram / Diddy

'Salt Bae' diner's owner Sahenk said to start restructure debt talks


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Turkish billionaire Ferit Sahenk’s Dogus Holding will this week start talks with a dozen local lenders to restructure about 40 per cent of its outstanding borrowings, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The group, which owns restaurant chains including Zuma and Nusr-Et – known for its founder chef’s meme “Salt Bae” – is negotiating debt of as much as US$2.5 billion (Dh9.18bn), said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private.

Dogus is seeking to extend the average maturity of the debt with new loans that will fall due in about 5 and a half years, compared with an average maturity now of 2 and a half years, said the people. The company is also pushing to skip principal payments for the next two years to make payments only on the interest, the people said.

About 80 per cent of the collateral for the restructured loans will be covered by the company’s assets, including hotels in Spain, which could be sold and turned to cash if needed, one of the people said. Dogus Holding declined to comment.

Mr Sahenk, once Turkey’s richest man, spent heavily on restaurants, marinas and hotels in Turkey and abroad after selling his 31 per cent stake in Turkiye Garanti Bankasi to Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentariafor almost $5.5bn in three stages since 2010. One of Dogus’ biggest investments is the $1.5bn development of Galataport, a cruise port and a compound of shopping malls on the Bosporus in central Istanbul.

Dogus Otomotiv Servis ve Ticaret, the group’s unit distributing Volkswagen brands in Turkey, rose as much as 2 per cent to 7.6 liras, the highest in a week. Dogus Gayrimenkul Yatirim Ortakligi, Sahenk’s real estate investment trust, rose as much as 3.2 per cent to 2.88 liras.

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Read more:

Salt Bae serves Maradona in Dubai - and nearly brings him to tears

Salt Bae restaurant chain 'valued at $1.5bn'

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Mr Sahenk’s group’s had outstanding loans of 23.5bn liras (Dh20.93bn) as of the end of December, according to its website, up from 21.2bn liras a year ago. The Istanbul-based company will have to make repayments of 7.7bn liras this year and 4.9bn liras next year. The group made principal payments of 7.1bn liras in 2017 against new borrowings of 8.3bn liras in the same period.

The management of Dogus Oto, which had 2.bn liras of debt at the end of 2017, is “planning to extend the maturity of the loans via alternative funding sources in 2018 and is looking at other measures to reduce the overall debt”, Toygun Onaran, an analyst at Oyak Securities in Istanbul, said last month.

Dogus has been disposing of assets to cut debt. Last week, it agreed to sell 17 per cent of d.ream International, which owns restaurant brands including Azumi and Nusr-Et, for $200 million to Singapore state’s investment firm Temasek Holdings and London-based Metric Capital Partners. An initial public offering of d.ream is also in the cards, possibly in 2019, people with knowledge of the plans have said. Dogus’ wider restaurant business is grouped under d.ream, which also has brands such as Da Mario, Fenix, Coya, Gina and Gunaydin.

Dogus has also sold its stake in a joint venture to build a shopping mall in Izmir, western Turkey, to its partner Orjin Group. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is also considering a $87m investment in the group’s D-Marinas, which has 10 marinas in Turkey, Greece and Croatia.

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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Specs

Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request

How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE

When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Health Valley

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Its partners work on technological innovation, new forms of diagnostics and other methods to make a difference in healthcare.
Its agency consists of eight people, four innovation managers and office managers, two communication advisers and one director. It gives innovation support to businesses and other parties in its network like a broker, connecting people with the right organisation to help them further

Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

Torque: 390Nm

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Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
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  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
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Where to buy art books in the UAE

There are a number of speciality art bookshops in the UAE.

In Dubai, The Lighthouse at Dubai Design District has a wonderfully curated selection of art and design books. Alserkal Avenue runs a pop-up shop at their A4 space, and host the art-book fair Fully Booked during Art Week in March. The Third Line, also in Alserkal Avenue, has a strong book-publishing arm and sells copies at its gallery. Kinokuniya, at Dubai Mall, has some good offerings within its broad selection, and you never know what you will find at the House of Prose in Jumeirah. Finally, all of Gulf Photo Plus’s photo books are available for sale at their show. 

In Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi has a beautiful selection of catalogues and art books, and Magrudy’s – across the Emirates, but particularly at their NYU Abu Dhabi site – has a great selection in art, fiction and cultural theory.

In Sharjah, the Sharjah Art Museum sells catalogues and art books at its museum shop, and the Sharjah Art Foundation has a bookshop that offers reads on art, theory and cultural history.

Europe’s rearming plan
  • Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
  • Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
  • Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
  • Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
  • Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
How to join and use Abu Dhabi’s public libraries

• There are six libraries in Abu Dhabi emirate run by the Department of Culture and Tourism, including one in Al Ain and Al Dhafra.

• Libraries are free to visit and visitors can consult books, use online resources and study there. Most are open from 8am to 8pm on weekdays, closed on Fridays and have variable hours on Saturdays, except for Qasr Al Watan which is open from 10am to 8pm every day.

• In order to borrow books, visitors must join the service by providing a passport photograph, Emirates ID and a refundable deposit of Dh400. Members can borrow five books for three weeks, all of which are renewable up to two times online.

• If users do not wish to pay the fee, they can still use the library’s electronic resources for free by simply registering on the website. Once registered, a username and password is provided, allowing remote access.

• For more information visit the library network's website.

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'The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting up a Generation for Failure' ​​​​
Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, Penguin Randomhouse

UK-EU trade at a glance

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The specs: Volvo XC40

Price: base / as tested: Dh185,000

Engine: 2.0-litre, turbocharged in-line four-cylinder

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Fuel economy, combined: 10.4L / 100km

The specs: 2018 Nissan Patrol Nismo

Price: base / as tested: Dh382,000

Engine: 5.6-litre V8

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Power: 428hp @ 5,800rpm

Torque: 560Nm @ 3,600rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 12.7L / 100km

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What are the main cyber security threats?

Cyber crime - This includes fraud, impersonation, scams and deepfake technology, tactics that are increasingly targeting infrastructure and exploiting human vulnerabilities.
Cyber terrorism - Social media platforms are used to spread radical ideologies, misinformation and disinformation, often with the aim of disrupting critical infrastructure such as power grids.
Cyber warfare - Shaped by geopolitical tension, hostile actors seek to infiltrate and compromise national infrastructure, using one country’s systems as a springboard to launch attacks on others.

How Sputnik V works
SPAIN SQUAD

Goalkeepers Simon (Athletic Bilbao), De Gea (Manchester United), Sanchez (Brighton)

Defenders Gaya (Valencia), Alba (Barcelona), P Torres (Villarreal), Laporte (Manchester City), Garcia (Manchester City), D Llorente (Leeds), Azpilicueta (Chelsea)

Midfielders Busquets (Barcelona), Rodri (Manchester City), Pedri (Barcelona), Thiago (Liverpool), Koke (Atletico Madrid), Ruiz (Napoli), M Llorente (Atletico Madrid)

Forwards: Olmo (RB Leipzig), Oyarzabal (Real Sociedad), Morata (Juventus), Moreno (Villarreal), F Torres (Manchester City), Traore (Wolves), Sarabia (PSG)

MATCH INFO

 

Maratha Arabians 107-8 (10 ovs)

Lyth 21, Lynn 20, McClenaghan 20 no

Qalandars 60-4 (10 ovs)

Malan 32 no, McClenaghan 2-9

Maratha Arabians win by 47 runs

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HOW TO WATCH

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PAKISTAN SQUAD

Pakistan - Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Azhar Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Haris Sohail, Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Aamer Yamin, Rumman Raees.

The specs

AT4 Ultimate, as tested

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Power: 420hp

Torque: 623Nm

Transmission: 10-speed automatic

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On sale: Now

A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro
Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books