The Stage

Really Useful Group in negotiations to sell four West End theatres to Michael Grade

Published Monday 6 September 2010 at 12:22 by Alistair Smith

Andrew Lloyd Webber is in discussions to sell four of his West End theatres to a consortium led by former BBC and ITV chairman Michael Grade.

Grade has teamed up with theatrical agent Michael Linnit and financial backers to put together a deal to purchase the New London, Palace, Cambridge and Her Majesty’s theatres.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group is currently in a period of exclusive negotiations with Grade Linnit. The asking price is understood to be around £50 million and, as yet, no final deal has been struck.

A spokesperson for RUG confirmed that the company was in negotiations with Grade Linnit. She said: “We receive[d] a number of unsolicited approaches and have entered in to discussions with Grade Linnit. We have not received an offer that, at this stage, would be acceptable to Really Useful Group or Andrew.”

If the sale goes ahead, Lloyd Webber will still retain the London Palladium and Theatre Royal Drury Lane, as well as a 50% stake in the Adelphi Theatre, which is co-owned with US company Nederlander.

RUG sold its four West End playhouses - the Lyric, Garrick, Apollo and Duchess - to Nimax Theatres in 2005 for £11.5 million and also offloaded its ticketing arm See Tickets for an undisclosed sum in 2008 to a subsidiary of Stage Entertainment.

Lloyd Webber’s intellectual property estate - including the rights to shows such as Phantom of the Opera and Cats - is not included the deal. The RUG spokesperson told The Stage that Lloyd Webber was also not in discussions to sells any of his other theatres.

For more on this story, see this week’s print edition of The Stage.