The deal between Neil Perry and his private equity backers to divide their restaurant empire and go their separate ways has collapsed, a victim of COVID-19 restrictions that make it impossible to figure out what restaurants are now worth.

"We are just working hard on getting the restaurants open and getting back to normal once all restrictions are off, no one knows when that is," Mr Perry told The Australian Financial Review Magazine exclusively on Thursday. "When we have a track record, put another 12 months in there, options come back on to the table.”