Musical mogul’s theatre buys set mortgage record

ANDREW Lloyd-Webber has taken out what is believed to be the biggest home mortgage in Britain, but is still the poor relation on this side of the water.

He has used the money to become the sole owner of seven theatres, including the London Palladium.

He has borrowed £35 million (€50.6m), secured against his £10m (€14.5m) London town house in Belgravia and his sprawling Hampshire estate.

The monthly repayments are £150,000 (€217,000).

Although he has not used his Irish property, Kiltinan Castle, as collateral, property experts here have valued the holding of a castle, stables and 440 acres near Fethard in Co Tipperary at €20m-€25m.

Lloyd-Webber, who has written or produced a string of musicals including Cats and The Phantom of the Opera, took out the mortgage at the end of last year to buy out a stake in the theatres held by his business partner, venture capital fund Bridgepoint.

André Ptaszynski, chief executive of Really Useful Group, Lloyd-Webber’s main company, said: “Andrew was given an extremely short timeframe... the fastest and most sensible way to raise funds was to do it personally and not through corporate means.”

He used the money to become 100% owner of seven theatres - the Adelphi, Cambridge, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Her Majesty’s, the New London, the London Palladium and the Palace.

The previous record home loan was reportedly a £15m (€21.7m) mortgage taken out by an anonymous businessman on his Belgravia home in 2004.

The bank is unlikely to have any qualms about Lloyd-Webber’s ability to keep up the repayments. According to the 2005 Sunday Times Rich List, he has a fortune of £700m (€1.013 billion).