Going for a £500m song

THE man behind smash-hit musicals such as Phantom Of The Opera, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita has put his empire up for sale in a move that could net him £500m.

Andrew Lloyd Webber - he was created a life peer in 1997 - has sent a memorandum of sale to potential buyers for his Really Useful Group, which he owns outright and which manages production and publishing rights to his shows.

The group also owns half of the Really Useful Theatres company, which has 11 sites in the West End of London, including top venues such as the Palladium and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

The other 50% is owned by American venture capital firm Bridgepoint Capital. A memorandum of sale for the Really Useful Theatres group is expected to be sent out within the next month. Four of Lord Lloyd Webber's smaller theatres - the Lyric, Duchess, Apollo and Garrick - have been up for sale for some time and a deal is expected soon.

The Really Useful sale is being handled by Patrick McKenna, chairman of advisory group Ingenious Media and a former chief executive of Really Useful Group. He quit seven years ago after falling out with the composer. It was McKenna who advised Lord Lloyd Webber to buy back his company a decade ago after its disastrous foray on the stock market.

The sale of the rights to Lloyd Webber's musicals will come as a surprise as observers expected him to retain control over future productions and the lucrative income from the sale of his music.

Lloyd Webber has sold more than 125m albums while Phantom has taken £1.6bn at the box office and Cats has netted more than £1bn. His fortune is estimated at £700m, though he has described himself as a 'very, very bad businessman'.

The last published accounts for Really Useful Holdings, which owns the musical rights and the theatre business, showed a gross profit of £13.9m on turnover of £99.2m.

Potential buyers for the businesses include his great rival, Sir Cameron Mackintosh, who owns seven West End theatres, and the Ambassadors Theatre Group, the second-biggest in the West End with ten venues. Broadway producer Max Weitzenhoffer could also be interested.

America's Clear Channel Entertainment might bid, but US hiphop star Sean 'P Diddy' Combs, previously thought to be interested in some of the theatres, was not available for comment.