LONDON - Nomura, the Japanese bank backing the £105 million ($NZ329m) purchase of London's blighted Millennium Dome, is so convinced it can make a success of the site that it plans a network of copies across Europe.
The Nomura-backed Dome Europe consortium agreed to buy the site in a deal clinched 11 days ago. It plans to continue many of the exhibitions, while adding new attractions, including an indoor adventure playground, a ride based on the children's classic Where The Wild Things Are and a Yellow Submarine adventure based on the Beatles film.
Nomura is expecting about 4 million visitors next year, well down on this year's disappointing total, but it believes that by 2004 more than 6 million people a year will come.
The Japanese bank, whose hyperactive principal finance group is headed by Guy Hands, is so convinced that the project will work that it is making plans for more Domes in Europe.
Mr Hands believes similar large exhibitions will succeed in major cities on the Continent, such as Frankfurt, Madrid or Milan. He also thinks there may be room for one or two more Domes in Britain, with Manchester or Glasgow the most likely locations.
Nomura secured the Dome in a straight battle with Legacy, a group run by millionaire Labour supporter Robert Bourne, who wanted to build a technology park. Mr Bourne claims that he offered up to £50 million more than Nomura, but his was a revenue-sharing deal with no guarantees, while Nomura's was a cash offer.
Half of the £105 million Nomura paid is to go to the Millennium Commission, which funded the Dome. It has now agreed to lend £43 million of this to the New Millennium Experience Company, which runs the Dome, to cover its financial shortfalls.
The Government was so worried that the company might have to close the Dome early that it checked that Nomura would have no objection to an early closure. Nomura said it would not object, but it is understood that a sigh of relief has been emitted at Dome Europe, where it was felt that an early closure might harm attendance figures after Nomura takes charge.
The Dome deal is one of three high-profile transactions that Nomura has been involved in recently. Last week, it lost to Mapeley, the George Soros-backed consortium, in the £2 billion battle to take over the Inland Revenue's offices.
This week, it must decide whether to top the £526 million bid for Hyder, the Welsh multi-utility, tabled by Western Power Distributors, the US joint venture.
- INDEPENDENT
Look out for lots more Domes
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