Dhaliliyah, a Saudi Arabian investment and development group has signed an agreement with restaurant chain Nobuto develop hotels and restaurants under the Nobu brand in both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Owned by Princess Nouf Bint Mohammed Bin Fahad Al-Saud, daughter of Prince Mohammed bin Fahad bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, the governor of the Eastern Province, Dhaliliyah is collaborating with Nobuyuki Matsuhisa and Hollywood actor Robert DeNiro to create a new joint venture company.
The new company — Saudi Nobu — will open its first hotel in Riyadh, quite a coup for the Kingdom, as it will be its first hotel in the Middle East.
A formal announcement regarding the project will be made at the upcoming Kingdom Hotel Expansion Summit in Riyadh on May 26-27. The two-day platform is organized and hosted by French business information group naseba.
"We and our partners Dhaliliyah are pleased to be attending the Kingdom Hotel Expansion Summit, organized by naseba, where we will announce details of our first hotel together," said Trevor Horwell, CEO, Nobu Hospitality.
"Our shareholders, including Nobu Matsuhisa and Robert DeNiro greatly value our strategic partnership with Dhaliliyah in achieving our common vision to bring the first Nobu Lifestyle Hotel to the Middle East," Horwell added.
This development comes at a time when Hilton Worldwide has recently confirmed a pipeline of 39 additional properties, which will add 14,928 rooms in the MENA region by 2015. Nine of these hotels are expected to open in Saudi Arabia between 2013 and 2014.
