Hans Zimmer’s £10m BBC deal is under threat
NewsThe German American composer had agreed in June to take the Maida Vale studios off the BBC’s hands for a knockdown price.
But a bigger Hollywood bid has just come swimming up the Canal. How hopeless are the BBC at property business…
Here’s Sky News:
Sky News has learnt that a syndicate comprising Matthew Vaughn, Sir Len Blavatnik, the billionaire investor in Warner Music Group, and William Pears, the UK property company, has submitted an offer for the Maida Vale Studios … Sources said the group had offered £16m for the site – well above the £10m the BBC was reported in June to have agreed to sell the venue for.
Sounds like that horrid London tradition of “gazumping” is still alive. Can’t trust a deal to be made until final money has changed hands. I’d prefer the composer gets the property rather than the billionaire investor/speculator. But money talks and the BBC can probably ill afford to take the lower offer. Plus, the investors would sue if high bid is rejected… Strange world.
Composer?
You mean the ambient noise engineer.
He should have kept his mouth shut (or publicly denied any deal) until the ink was dry.
The Sky News piece seems however to suggest (but only to suggest) that the Zimmer deal is nonetheless the one going through:
“An announcement from the BBC about the deal to Mr Zimmer is anticipated at some point this month […] The value of his proposal could not be ascertained on Monday, and the BBC declined to comment on either the value of Mr Zimmer’s offer or whether it had received financially superior bids” […]
“One person familiar with the consortium in which Mr Vaughn was participating said its members were “bemused” by the rejection of its offer.
“This is a team of leading industry professionals across recorded music, production companies and real estate,” the insider said.
“He added that the group’s plan would be to maintain Maida Vale as a recording studio with additional investment to establish post-production facilities for the film, television and gaming [….]
“Mr Vaughn’s consortium’s offer is understood to have included a two-week exchange period with limited conditions attached to it.
Make of all that what you will. The full Sky piece is at https://news.sky.com/story/bbc-faces-scrutiny-over-rival-maida-vale-studios-bid-from-vaughn-consortium-12935364