A Hollywood power broker has snapped up some of the West End’s leading theatres in a £4.5billion deal.

American media tycoon Ari Emanuel has struck a deal to buy ATG Entertainment through his firm Mari Group.

ATG, which has been owned by private equity group Providence since 2013, has ten venues in London’s West End including the Lyceum, home to The Lion King, and the nearby Savoy Theatre, which is staging Paddington The Musical.

It also runs a raft of regional theatres, such as Liverpool Empire, Edinburgh Playhouse and Manchester Opera House, and has seven venues on Broadway in New York, including the Lyric, which is staging Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Mari – founded by Emanuel last year – runs Hyde Park Winter Wonderland and the Hampton Court Palace and Blenheim Palace Festivals as well as major tennis tournaments including the Madrid and Miami Opens.

Mari, which is backed by Apollo Global Management and RedBird Capital Partners, snapped up Secret Cinema’s parent company TodayTix last year.

Emanuel is also executive chairman of talent agency WME Group, acting as a ‘super agent’ to A-Listers including Adele, Oprah Winfrey and Martin Scorsese.

In a statement, Mari said the acquisition of ATG reflects its ‘conviction in the growing power of live experience and the passionate audiences it brings together’.

Emanuel added: ‘I’ve spent my whole career in entertainment, and I started out in theatre.

‘I’ve seen the industry reinvent itself many times, but live has only grown more powerful. Nothing connects great talent with audiences more directly.

‘ATG has built one of the world’s great theatre businesses around that experience. This is a long-term bet on where live goes next.’

Melanie Smith, global chief executive of ATG, said: ‘Mari understands live entertainment and what matters most to ATG: our theatres, the people behind them and the relationships we have built with producers, artists and audiences.

‘That makes Mari the right home for our next chapter. We look forward to this new era and thank Providence for their unwavering support over the past thirteen years.’