Ari Emanuel's Mari Acquires ATG Entertainment in £4.5 Billion Theatre Deal
Ari Emanuel's events and experiences company Mari has agreed to acquire ATG Entertainment — the company behind dozens of Britain's best-known theatres — for approximately £4.5 billion (Wall Street Journal, WhatsOnStage).
The deal, announced on 11 August 2026, sees Mari buy ATG from private equity firm Providence Equity Partners. The price tag of roughly £4.5 billion (about $5.94 billion) was first reported by the Financial Times in June, when the two sides were in advanced talks (Reuters). It is the largest acquisition to date by Emanuel's Mari Group (Financial Times).
ATG Entertainment owns 38 venues across the UK, 23 across the United States and 10 in Continental Europe, spanning London's West End to Broadway (ATG Entertainment). Its theatres host over 16,000 performances a year and welcome more than 18 million audience members annually (WhatsOnStage). Melanie Smith is ATG's global chief executive.
Emanuel, the founder and principal investor of Mari, is also CEO of TKO Group Holdings — the company behind the UFC and WWE. Mari already has a foothold in the UK live-events market through Hyde Park Winter Wonderland and the Hampton Court Palace and Blenheim Palace festivals. The firm recently acquired the ticketing platform TodayTix as well (WhatsOnStage).
For theatregoers, the immediate question is what changes under new ownership. Mari says it intends to act as a "long-term custodian" of ATG's venues, investing in their preservation and modernisation, improving audience experience and backing new productions (WhatsOnStage). Until the deal closes, however, the two companies will continue to operate independently. Completion is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, and the financial terms beyond the headline price have not been disclosed (WhatsOnStage).
The transaction drew a small army of advisers. Raine Group and Moelis & Company served as financial advisers to Mari, with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld as legal counsel and EY as tax adviser. On the ATG and Providence side, LionTree was lead financial adviser, Kirkland & Ellis served as legal counsel, and Goldman Sachs, Jefferies and Barron International Group also acted as financial advisers (WhatsOnStage).
The acquisition brings one of the largest portfolios of historic theatres in the world under the control of a company whose roots are in live sport and entertainment — not in the playhouse. Whether that distinction matters to the 18 million people who buy tickets each year will depend on what Mari does with the buildings it has just agreed to buy.
