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Grade bids for the Phantom

BBC chairman Michael Grade is in the running to buy the copyright to Andrew Lloyd Webber's world-famous musicals, including Cats and The Phantom of the Opera.

Grade is one of the bidders for Lloyd Webber's company the Really Useful Group, which owns all of the intellectual property rights to his music and film works.

It also owns 50% of Really Useful Theatres - whose assets include the Theatre Royal Drury Lane - with private equity firm Bridgepoint Capital owning the rest.

Grade is thought to be bidding around £290m for RUG, and has teamed up with theatrical agent Michael Linnit. Bidding is at an early stage, but Grade's involvement may concern some of his colleagues at the BBC.

He is supposed to spend four days working for the corporation, yet he is also chairman of film studio Pinewood Shepperton and financial data firm Hemscott.

A spokesman for Lloyd Webber said that consultancy Ingenious Media was advising on 'all available options' for RUG.

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