Kuwait Food Co, the MENA operator of KFC restaurants known as Americana, has been valued at about $4 billion by an investor group looking to buy out the company’s family owner.

Dubai-based investor group aims to take the Kuwaiti company private and is currently conducting due diligence on the deal.

The consortium, led by Mohamed Alabbar, chairman of Emaar Properties, includes prominent United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabian families, the people asking not to be identified as the information is confidential told Bloomberg.

A valuation of $4 billion represents a 36 percent premium to Americana’s market value at the close of trading on Thursday.

Adeptio was seeking to raise as much as $2 billion from banks to fund its bid, people familiar with the matter said in February.

Bloomberg failed to obtain comment from Americana while Alabbar declined to comment through an external spokesman.