So, Live Nation, the UK’s largest theatre operator, is to be sold off to the highest bidder.
Well, sort of.
Live Nation has kicked off the very long and drawn out process which could lead to a sale, by asking Goldman Sachs to see if anyone wants to buy its 17 UK venues and, if so, for what price.
The answer to the first of those two questions is undoubtedly yes. But it’s worth remembering that the answer to the second could very easily be ‘not as much as Live Nation wants’.
With that proviso, however, what would the sale mean for UK theatre, if it were to go ahead?
First, it’s worth stating that this has the potential to be the biggest sale in UK theatre since the Oxford-based Apollo Leisure Group was bought by SFX for the princely sum of £156 million in 1999.
Since then, the largest theatre operator in the UK has been a foreign company. It is unlikely, but by no means implausible, that that will change now.
The two leading players in the race to own Live Nation’s venues are almost certainly the US-based Key Brand Entertainment (with the involvement of UK producer John Gore) and Netherlands-based Stage Entertainment.
If either of them is successful, they will become the largest operator in regional theatre in the UK, with an additional significant holding in the West End.
There will be a new player at the top table, but, it will be little more than a case of swapping name plates. In practical terms, it would most likely change very little.
Perhaps the most interesting scenario would be if Ambassador Theatre Group were to be successful in the bidding. ATG - the second largest theatre group in the UK and a major player both in the West End and the regions - currently looks like the most plausible British bidder for the entire portfolio, although it will require some kind of outside investment.
If it were successful, ATG would become the big player in UK theatre, operating more theatre seats than anyone else in both the West End and regions. This would be the first time that a single player had such over-arching dominance in the regions since the peak of Paul Gregg’s Apollo in the nineties, and the first time a single player has been dominant both inside and outside London since, well, since forever.
That would be a big turnaround. Now it’s just a case of waiting and seeing…
For full coverage of the proposed Live Nation sale, see this week’s print edition of The Stage.
That certainly would be a turnaround. Looking forward to reading more.