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Entrepreneur buys Belle Vue track

Graeme Evans
28/ 2/2005

LEISURE entrepreneur Luke Johnson today won the multi-million pound race to buy six greyhound tracks put up for sale by gaming group Wembley.

Mr Johnson's investment vehicle Risk Capital Partners will acquire the tracks at Belle Vue in Manchester, Perry Barr and Hall Green in Birmingham, Wimbledon, Oxford and Portsmouth for '50.3 million.

Wembley confirmed earlier this month that it was looking to offload the greyhound sites after agreeing a deal to sell its US operations in Rhode Island and Colorado to gaming consortium BLB Investors for around '182.5 million. The former operator of the England football stadium will then become a shell with surplus cash paid back to shareholders.

Mr Johnson, who is non-executive chairman of Channel 4, entered into an exclusivity agreement with Wembley more than a week ago. That was after seeing off competition thought to have come from racecourse operator Arena Leisure and at least two other private equity groups.

Bingo

The tracks will be added to a growing leisure business that includes a number of bingo clubs.

Mr Johnson, who is the former chairman of Pizza Express, also owns Signature Restaurants, the chain behind The Ivy and Le Caprice in central London, as well as the Belgo chain and Strada.

Wembley chief executive Mark Elliott said he was delighted with the price achieved for the tracks, which was higher than the '40 million to '50 million first indicated by analysts.

He added: "The sale represents an important step towards the board's intention to realise maximum value for our shareholders."

The company had looked set to sell the business to an international casino operator, but it is likely changes to new gambling laws made the tracks less attractive to overseas investors.

BLB - featuring property investment firm Starwood Capital and casino operator Kerzner - moved to buy the Wembley business outright last year but the '308 million takeover proposal collapsed.

It will instead buy the US gaming division, which comprises 90% of Wembley's operations.

In 2003, the UK greyhound tracks generated operating profits of '3.6 million on turnover of '25.5 million.

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