TRANSCRIPT
PY Gerbeau - former boss of the Millennium Dome -
and John Humphrys
PY Gerbeau
Everybody asking me why I'm coming out today, but you know well as you said before I've been very quiet making sure that the competition process was going properly with Legacy. But I'm told officially that today's the day and we're looking at a process that might drag on. I'm kind of frustrated with the continuous delays about the bidding process and I'm telling the Government that you must reopen the bidding process which has been going on for too long. Basically this is a last chance to make it right. This is more than our bid, we have a very serious business plan we have good backers and we believe that we have a great concept. But this is more than that - it's about making the thing right for the Dome. £800m has been spent on this thing. It deserves better than that. It's a public venue it should remain a public venue. It deserves a better chance.
John Humphrys
But they can't say to Legacy now at this stage "clear off we're going to open the whole thing again", they're doing a deal with Legacy, can they, they're doing a deal with Legacy?
PY Gerbeau
Just like you, I'm very surprised. I heard this yesterday. We're not going to hang around for another six months. There are other potential buyers out there, we're not the only ones. I'm here today because I'm very surprised because we're not being told officially they're exchanging contracts. That's why we're frustrated and we're saying what's going on.
John Humphrys
Well, apparently the Government's saying that today wasn't a deadline it was a sort of guideline.
PY Gerbeau
This is where we've got a problem. We can't hang around. Personally I'm looking at opportunities. I'd be very happy to buy the Dome. The consortium behind me we have a very robust business plan. We're very flexible to talk to the Government to talk about different options, different financial structures. We're here to help out. In a normal commercial environment if you say today's the day then it's today. We're just a little bit frustrated, it might drag on for another three months. Again, Legacy has had a bid on the table for a year now. Everyone's been looking at that bid. There aren't any tenants. The financial structure is kind of odd, where you have an investor walking in and walking out on a daily basis. So it's today and we're ready.
John Humphrys
Well you say you're ready, but have you got the money? A lot of people say you haven't got the cash.
PY Gerbeau
This is a kind of vicious circle. Since we're not a company, a legal entity, even though Ministry of Sound and myself have spent quite some money to construct this bid and have some very good partners. We're talking to different people. Nomura are very interested in this concept and business plan.
John Humphrys
Well, they haven't actually said "here's a hundred million quid to be getting on with" …
PY Gerbeau
No of course not , John, we're not even in existence. We're not even sitting round the table. The Government can't talk to us by the fact they're stuck with that exclusivity round the Legacy bid. So we cannot be doing commercial deals just like a lot of promoters and artists are really excited by the Dome as a concept venue. Say Madonna comes to us and says "I'd really like to do a concert there can we sign a contract" we have to say "sorry we're not in business". This is a vicious circle. We're tired of it, we need to go on. The potential backers are saying "PY it's a great concept, we've got a great business plan, but we can't go on forever".
John Humphrys
Well what is the concept exactly then? Is it a concert hall? Is it a funfair? Or what?
PY Gerbeau
John, it's a world class attraction, I think we …
John Humphrys
… of what though?
PY Gerbeau
… I think we've proved in very difficult situations that there was a potential for it to be a world class attraction. Isolating the central arena, and I'm sure you've been there John, the central arena is a great entertainment arena. You can have concerts, sports items everything you can think of from Lennox Lewis fighting Mike Tyson, to the first tour of Michael Jackson in Europe …
John Humphrys
What about the rest of it, because the central arena is only a bit of it?
PY Gerbeau
Then around the Dome we would build a world class attraction. We've got a great concept using some of the zones that are there and hopefully are still there.
John Humphrys
But they've all been ripped down.
PY Gerbeau
This is one of my worries too. There's an auction that's going on. Again, no one is talking to us. The Government is stuck with very fixed rules. Basically they're going to do an auction. We don't know if there's anything to buy very soon.. So we are worried. From a personal standpoint I'm looking for other things to do and staying in the UK but I'm not going to hang around forever hanging around for a deal that should be done today.
John Humphrys
Let's assume there were to be a new contest, and there are problems with Europe and all the rest of it, how much money would you say "OK this is what we're prepared to put into it", what would your bid be?
PY Gerbeau
Well, we are very flexible. One of the key issues is very interesting. Guy Hands from Nomura put it forward. That the Government should sell the land around, maximise its profit, share a little bit of that profit to invest in the Dome, so the Government would cash in and finally return some money to the taxpayers and to the Lottery. At the end of the day we would have a second stream of revenue by the fact that we would rent the place. We not interested to make millions …
John Humphrys
So you haven't got a lot of capital then?
PY Gerbeau
Well, we're talking to different options. It's either going with Nomura, which could be a very good option, or talking to property developers. We'd say "we'll run the Dome for you, you buy the land, you make the profit, you give us a little of the money to reconstruct what has been destroyed and turning it into a world class attraction and a great entertainment venue and then we will rent it from you". So I think, again, £800 million has been spent for a public venue so this is the last chance to not end up like the British Rail - do a cheap fast deal and regret it six months after.
John Humphrys
It's all a bit hypothetical, isn't it? You don't have anything very firm there really.
PY Gerbeau
As I said, how can you be a very firm bidder when you're not even talking to the Governement?
John Humphrys
Will nobody there talk to you at all? I mean if you rang up John Prescott …
PY Gerbeau
No, I have great respect for John and we got on very well but he cannot talk to me by the fact that he's stuck with the rule of the competition which says he's got an exclusivity deal with Legacy. I respect that. That's why we were very quiet and respectful of those rules, but I'm coming out today saying "are you a deal? If you're making a deal we're happy" but I'm disappointed that should have been a public venue. At the end of the day I'll go on with my professional life somewhere else. But this is today, this is when contracts are being exchanged and we cannot wait forever. We're talking to people saying "we're very serious, we've got a strong business plan but we cannot enter into a commercial negotiation with you".
John Humphrys
Well, we'll see what comes of it all. PY Gerbeau, many thanks.
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Please Note:
This transcript was typed from an on-air broadcast and not copied from an original script. Because of the possibility of mis-hearing and the difficulty, in some cases, of identifying individual speakers, the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ cannot vouch for its accuracy.
