The Stage

US tycoon buys Lloyd Webber’s four London playhouses for £12m

Published Monday 11 July 2005 at 11:25 by Alistair Smith

Andrew Lloyd Webber has completed the sale of his four West End playhouses - the Apollo, the Duchess, the Lyric and the Garrick theatres - to American entrepreneur and producer Max Weitzenhoffer and Nica Burns, currently production director of Really Useful Theatres, for around £12 million.

Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group, which co-owns the venues with investment company Bridgepoint Capital as Really Useful Theatres, has been in exclusive negotiations with the US oil tycoon for the past month. Following the sale, RUT still owns and manages eight venues and controls 11,587 seats - more than any other theatre operator in the West End.

Earlier this year, Lloyd Webber appointed consultant Patrick McKenna to conduct a review into the running of RUG. However, while it has sold off its playhouses and the Gielgud returns to Cameron Mackintosh next year, the company still seems likely to hold on to its other assets, including the London Palladium, Adelphi, Palace, Her Majesty’s, Cambridge, New London and Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

Lloyd Webber has vowed that £10 million from the sale will be invested in refurbishing his music houses. He added: “The sale to Nica Burns and Max Weitzenhoffer is a terrific result for theatre. I am thrilled to be able to say that these theatres are not being sold to the highest bidder, but to theatre professionals who will continue to administer them in the way that is in the best interests of the theatres themselves and the West End in general. Max is a wonderful philanthropist and long term business associate and I have the highest regard for Nica’s work. Both have been supporters of London theatre for many years.

“I am also delighted that this sale will mean that, because the company’s borrowings will be reduced, we will be able to spend a minimum of £10 million over the next 5 years in improving and refurbishing the remaining eight theatres in our portfolio which comprises some of the world’s most famous music houses, including the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, the Palace and the London Palladium. These wonderful, treasured buildings have always been my first love and I am so pleased that we can ensure without doubt that they will be preserved and modernised for the benefit of today’s theatregoers and for future generations.”

Weitzenhoffer has been trying to strengthen his position in the London theatre scene for some time. The former RUG angel made his first successful West End acquisition in 2001 when he bought the freehold of the Vaudeville Theatre.

Prior to that, he was the main rival to Lloyd Webber’s successful bid for Stoll Moss Theatres in 2000 and was also thought to have bid for Associated Capital Theatres, the group of West End venues eventually purchased by Ambassador Theatre Group, in the same year.

More recently, he has co-produced with Burns the plays Some Girl(s), starring David Schwimmer, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, starring Christian Slater, both at the Gielgud. Burns and Weitzenhoffer will act as joint owners of the four venues and will take over their management from October 1. The pair will trade under the name of Nimax Theatres Ltd. Burns will be chief executive and run the company on a day-to-day basis. Nimax will also manage the Vaudeville, which remains under the sole ownership of Weitzenhoffer.

They commented: “We have both been working in the theatre all our lives and producing quality drama together for many years. The idea of producing and presenting great theatre in these historic playhouses, as owners, is thrilling. We have a large welcome mat outside our front door for all producers and creators of theatre.”