James Packer and Robert De Niro in Nobu restaurant joint venture

Business buddies: James Packer and actor Robert De Niro during a news conference in Macau this week. Photo: AP

Crown Resorts, the casino operator half-owned by Mr Packer, has paid $US100 million ($141 million) for 20 per cent of Nobu, the acclaimed Japanese restaurant chain owned by De Niro, along with celebrity chef Nobu Matsuhisa and film producer Meir Teper.

Three Of Nobu's 32 restaurants around the globe are in Crown casino complexes: Crown Perth, Crown Melbourne and City of Dreams Manila, which is part-owned by Crown's Asian casino venture, Melco Crown.

Part of Crown's business strategy is for the brands within its casinos to be replicated across its global properties.

Mr Packer and De Niro have forged a relationship via the Australian casino mogul's film production company, RatPac Entertainment, which he owns with Hollywood production guru Brett Ratner.

De Niro also starred in The Audition, a short film made at a reported cost of $US70 million to promote the opening of Melco's latest Macau casino, Studio City. The $US4 billion casino opened this week.

Crown chairman Robert Rankin said several new Nobu hotel and restaurant openings were planned.

"We see the Nobu brand as complementary to Crown Resorts' global luxury entertainment positioning and the Nobu business has an attractive near-term growth profile," he said. "James Packer established Crown's relationship with Nobu some years ago . . . This acquisition cements that existing strong relationship."

As part of the deal, Crown will nominate Mr Packer to join the Nobu board as one of four directors.