Al Abraaj Restaurants Group, a popular restaurant chain listed on the Bahrain Bourse, announced on May 15 that it has acquired Bitcoin to add to its corporate treasury.
With this landmark step, the restaurant group has become the first publicly traded company in the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the Middle East to add Bitcoin to its balance sheet.
Al Abraaj has purchased five Bitcoin in its first acquisition and aims to dedicate a major portion of its treasury to cryptocurrency, as Bitcoin is the primary reserve asset in its institutional treasury.
The company claims to follow in the footsteps of companies such as MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR), Elon Musk‘s Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), and Metaplanet (TOKYO: 3350.T), which are among the world’s largest corporate holders of Bitcoin.
Al Abraaj has joined forces with the NYC-based investment firm 10X Capital to raise additional capital to add more Bitcoin to its treasury for the purpose of holding maximum Bitcoin per share.
10X Capital is well-known for advising leading Bitcoin treasury firms, including David Bailey’s Bitcoin-native firm Nakamoto during its landmark $710 million deal with KindlyMD Inc. Bailey advised Donald Trump on crypto policy during the 2024 presidential campaign.
“Our initiative towards becoming a Bitcoin Treasury Company reflects our forward-thinking approach and dedication to maximizing shareholder value,” said Abdulla Isa, Chairman of the Bitcoin Treasury Committee of Al Abraaj Restaurants Group B.S.C.
“I’d like to congratulate Abdalla Isa and the team at Al Abraaj for adopting Bitcoin at the corporate treasury level, finally enabling anyone in the GCC with a brokerage account to gain Bitcoin exposure,” Capital CEO Hans Thomas said.
