Richard Caring sells majority stake in Ivy hospitality empire to Sheikh Tahnoon’s IHC
Deal includes an investment of more than £1bn
Richard Caring has sold a majority stake in his UK hospitality empire, which includes the Ivy restaurant chain and London private members’ club Annabel’s, to an entity controlled by the powerful Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
The deal includes an investment of more than £1bn from Diafa, an affiliate of Sheikh Tahnoon’s sprawling holding company IHC, the company said on Saturday.
Caring, dubbed the “King of Mayfair”, will remain as executive chair of the group, and lead the business’s next phase of international expansion alongside Diafa, which will be helmed by the former chair of LVMH’s Asia business Ravi Thakran.
Caring said in a statement that he was confident that the new company would “bring our world-class brands to new markets and continue to elevate our vision for hospitality.”
The FT reported last year that Sheikh Tahnoon was looking to buy a significant stake in Caring’s empire.
The 77-year-old rag trader-turned-hospitality mogul has over decades assembled a portfolio of some of London’s best-known bars, restaurants and clubs. It includes Troia, the company that owns the Ivy Collection, as well as casual dining chain Bill’s and Caprice Holdings, which owns high-end restaurants such as Sexy Fish, Scott’s and Bacchanalia.
Caring controls his empire through a complicated web of investment vehicles, which ultimately are owned through offshore holding companies in Jersey and the British Virgin Islands.
The completed deal, which was first reported by the Sunday Times, will expand Diafa’s hospitality portfolio, which includes the Azumi Group’s high-end restaurants Zuma and Roka, as well as Los-Angeles based hospitality company h.wood Group.
Alongside controlling IHC, the most valuable company on Abu Dhabi’s stock exchange, Sheikh Tahnoon — a brother of President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed — is the UAE’s national security adviser and leads the UAE’s push into artificial intelligence through his G42 Group.
IHC has grown rapidly in recent years, boasting roughly 1,500 subsidiaries as of the end of 2025. Its holdings range from electricity, property development and hospitals to billboards, driving schools and chicken farms.