Dashwood: Wetherspoon's glass is half full on price rises Then again, Ruddles and Greene King IPA brews were "already our cheapest beers," said a spokesman from his sun lounger in Tel Aviv, who informed Dashwood that, according to a Wetherspoon survey of 20 pubs managed by other operators, the chain is still 17pc cheaper than rivals. Wagamama founder marches on Mayfair Serial restaurant entrepreneur Alan Yau's plans for a new London venture are coming to the boil. Last month, Dashwood revealed the Wagamama and Hakkasan founder's funding talks with an ex-Goldman Sachs financier and a leading light at hedge fund NewSmith. Now the restaurateur is understood to have struck a deal through property agent CBRE to take over the entire 9,300 sq ft site of the American brasserie Automat in London's Mayfair. Early smoke signals indicate that a high-end Chinese restaurant will open in the basement, with a more accessible (read cheaper) concept at ground level. No idle boast, it seems, when Yau said he "might look at doing something major" in early 2013. There is one upside to the meltdown in the eurozone. The financial crisis has made European businesses more attractive to Chinese private equity, Dashwood learnt at an event hosted by Hong Kong investment bank Quam Capital with Cavendish Corporate Finance. But be warned - Chinese investors think big. One PE firm turned down manufacturer Renesola, midway through a five-year period in which it increased revenues from $5m a year to $1.2bn, because it was "not ambitious enough."