Gerbeau withdraws bid for Millennium Dome
Thursday, 15 March 2001The former chief executive of Britain's Millennium Dome today withdrew his bid to run the troubled tourist attraction, dealing a further blow to the government's planned sale of the site.
A spokesman for extrovert French executive Pierre-Yves Gerbeau said that Gerbeau had pulled out 'because of the high degree of uncertainty surrounding the whole process'.
The Dome, situated near London's Docklands and which closed at the end of last year, failed to meet ambitious targets set for visitor numbers.
Gerbeau's withdrawal comes after the Treasury Holdings-backed Legacy company - the British government's preferred candidate to run the tourist attraction - lost the support last month of a consortium involving the Duke of Westminster, one of Britain's richest men.
Legacy found a new bidding partner in privately-held property firm Teesland Group, but the government had originally hoped to conclude a deal with Legacy during February.
Gerbeau had hoped to turn the Dome into an entertainment venue. His bidding group New Dome Partners also involved James Palumbo, the founder of leading London night-club Ministry of Sound which hosted an all-night rave at the Millennium Dome on New Year's Eve 2000.
'It is a sad day for me but I am not interested in doing a property deal and the bid process is now surrounded by uncertainty and looks likely to stretch well into 2002,' Gerbeau said in a statement, adding that he hoped to continue working in Britain.
