The longtime owner of Detroit's Fisher Theatre has struck a deal to sell the iconic venue to a United Kingdom-based company after six decades of being run by the Nederlander family.
The Fisher is part of a sale of three theaters by the Nederlander Co. LLC to London-based Ambassador Theatre Group, which was announced late Monday. The pending acquisition also includes Nederlander's programming operation of the Detroit Opera House and Music Hall in Detroit, according to a news release.
The agreement also includes the Golden Gate Theatre and Orpheum Theatre, both in San Francisco.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The deal is set to close next Monday.
Ambassador is a portfolio company of Rhode Island-based private equity firm Providence Equity Partners, which was founded in the U.K. in 1992. The company owns about 50 theaters worldwide.
The 2,100-seat Fisher Theatre, built in 1928, has been operated by the Nederlander family operation since 1961, and is designated a National Historic Landmark. It has played host in that time to many of the biggest touring versions of Broadway shows, including "Hamilton," "Phantom of the Opera" and innumerable others.
The Nederlander theater empire got its start in Detroit in 1912 when David Nederlander bought a 99-year lease on the Detroit Opera House, according to a company history. In 1964, his son James M. Nederlander purchased the Palace Theatre on Broadway.
The company still owns or operates numerous theaters throughout the country, including nine Broadway theaters, though the live entertainment business has been largely shut down on Broadway and elsewhere for the past year of the coronavirus pandemic.
"It cannot be overstated the influence of the Nederlander brothers on the Broadway genre," Music Hall Center President and Artistic Director Vince Paul said in an email. "I always thought it was so cool they were from Detroit and dominated the business in New York and in cities across America."
Paul said Music Hall's relationship with the local operation of the theater company, Broadway in Detroit, will not change, and "we will continue to play host to the many offerings BiD brings to the city each year."
"This extraordinary portfolio of venues located in San Francisco and Detroit, two of America's key theatrical touring cities, is comprised of precious assets and we are delighted to be taking over their stewardship," Mark Cornell, CEO of ATG, said in the release.
Nederlander President Robert Nederlander Sr. stated: "These unique venues have been home to Broadway's greatest shows, serving local and regional audiences for generations. We are confident that the ATG team will continue to look after the strong foundation that we have created with these theatres in their respective communities and to take them into this next decade with great success."
The companies said the transaction was initiated by Lisbeth R. Barron, whose firm Barron International Group LLC was the exclusive financial adviser to Nederlander. The legal advisers to Nederlander were Skadden, Arps, Slate,Meagher, & Flom LLP and Dykema Gossett PLLC. FTI Consulting served as ATG's financial adviser and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and Foley & Lardner LLP were legal advisers to ATG.
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March 23, 2021 at 07:08PM
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Fisher Theatre sold by Nederlander group to UK company - Crain's Detroit Business
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