By Mark Shenton
03 Nov 2009

The U.K's Ambassador Theatre Group has completed the purchase of Live Nation's group of 16 U.K. theatres, including the West End's Lyceum and Apollo Victoria Theatres, currently home to The Lion King and Wicked respectively.

The cost of the acquisition is £90 million, with the deal creating a combined business valued at some £150 million. ATG, co-founded by Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire in 1992, will now have a total of 39 venues under its management. The group has also recently won the right to operate Aykesbury's Waterside Theatre, which is due to open in 2010, bringing their portfolio of venues to 40. Excluded from the deal is the West End's Dominion Theatre, currently home to We Will Rock You, that Live Nation had a one-third share in.

In addition to the West End's Lyceum and Apollo Theatres, the Live Nation theatres being acquired are the Edinburgh Playhouse; The Auditorium, Grimsby; Liverpool Empire; Bristol Hippodrome; The Palace Theatre and The Opera House, Manchester; Southport Theatre; Sunderland Empire; Grand Opera House, York; Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham; Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone; The New Theatre and The Old Fire Station, Oxford; and the Princess Theatre, Torquay.

The group's existing portfolio of West End theatres includes the Comedy, Donmar Warehouse, Duke of York's, Fortune, Phoenix, Piccadilly, Playhouse, Savoy (both co-ownership and management of), Trafalgar Studio 1 and Trafalgar Studio 2. Their current regional theatres include The Ambassadors in Woking (encompassing the New Victoria and Rhoda McGaw Theatres and a 6 screen cinema complex, Ambassador Cinemas); Theatre Royal Brighton; The Regent Theatre and The Victoria Hall, both in Stoke-on-Trent; Milton Keynes Theatre; Churchill Theatre in Bromley; Richmond Theatre in Surrey; The King's Theatre and The Theatre Royal, both in Glasgow; New Wimbledon Theatre and the New Wimbledon Studio, in Wimbledon, South West London.

ATG is also a leading theatre producer – its next West End opening is a new production of Molière's The Misanthrope, starring Damian Lewis and Keira Knightley, that will open at the West End's Comedy Theatre in December 2009. It is also mounting productions around the world. Recent productions in Australia include The Rocky Horror Show and Guys and Dolls, with West Side Story scheduled for 2010. Recent ATG productions on Broadway include Exit the King (with Susan Sarandon and Geoffrey Rush) and the ill-fated revival of Guys and Dolls that played at the Nederlander earlier this year, with a new production of Elling planned on Broadway for 2010.

ATG also has a wholly owned subsidiary company Sonia Friedman Productions (SFP), led by producer Sonia Friedman, whose current co-productions include Othello starring Lenny Henry at the Trafalgar Studios and La Cage Aux Folles at the Playhouse, the latter of which will open on Broadway in 2010.

The group will also now have sole ownership of First Family Entertainment, the pantomime-producing arm it set up jointly with Live Nation. FFE is producing 12 pantomimes for the Christmas 2009-10 season.

In a press statement, ATG's joint chief executive officer and creative director Howard Panter has commented, "Live Nation Theatres is a very successful company, with first class staff and significant customer loyalty. It is also blessed with some of the world’s best producers and productions. Our aim is to help maintain the shows and theatres as vibrant successes. It will be a privilege to operate this additional group of historic venues."

It has also been announced that Greg Dyke, former director-general of the BBC from 2000 to 2004, has been newly appointed as ATG's executive chairman. In a press statement, he has commented, "I am delighted to be joining ATG as executive chairman. I've known the Group for many years and seen it grow from its early years in Woking to become one of the biggest theatre operators in the UK. ATG is a great British success story and the acquisition of the Live Nation Theatres will make the Group even more successful and I'm looking forward to being part of its future."