News on Sale of Four Andrew Lloyd Webber Theatres

The possible sale of four West End Theatres which are owned by Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Really Useful Group has been under discussion for several months and has yet to be confirmed, but a letter to staff yesterday suggests that the negotiations are nearing completion.

The Palace, New London, Cambridge and Her Majesty's are likely to be purchased to a consortium led by Michael Grade

A spokesperson for RUG confirmed that an agreement (believed to be in the region of £50 million) had now been reached between the parties for the sale of the four theatres, but stressed that final contracts were still yet to be signed.

Andre Ptaszynski, Chief executive of the Really Useful Group, wrote to staff yesterday with part of the letter saying: “The proposal is that staff currently employed by Really Useful Theatres Ltd, New London Theatre Properties Ltd, Palace Theatre London Ltd and New London Theatre Ltd would continue be employed by the same employer, albeit that the ownership of these companies would change”.

The plan is that the Really Useful Group will retain ownership of its three biggest theatres: the London Palladium, Theatre Royal Drury Lane and the Adelphi which is part-owned with Nederlander.