Andrew Lloyd Webber to Take Full Ownership of Many West End Venues

Andrew Lloyd Webber is taking full ownership of many of the West End venues for which he is currently a part owner. He has arranged to buy out Bridgepoint Capital's 50 percent share of the many Really Useful Theatres, effective November 30, according to Variety.

The deal means that numerous West End theaters--including the Cambridge, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Gielgud, Her Majesty's, London Palladium, New London and Palace--will now be completely under Lloyd Webber's control. The news comes as a surprise because rumors had swirled for the past year that Lloyd Webber had wanted to unload all of his theaters and possibly the copyrights to his previous shows, with people bidding on the whole lot. A few months ago, he did sell the Garrick, Duchess, Apollo and Lyric theaters, all of which are primarily used for straight plays.

Lloyd Webber plans on spending £10 million $17.5 million to refurbish his theaters in the next five years.

"Literally, the opportunity was there," Lloyd Webber told Variety about the acquisition. "Whatever the future is, we can now take [control] completely in our hands."