Holmes a Court Family Keeping U.K. Theaters : Stage: Despite announcement, speculation grows about fate of 13 highly prized West End properties.

The group of 13 West End theaters left by Australian businessman Robert Holmes a Court--including the Theater Royal Drury Lane, where the smash musical “Miss Saigon” is running--will remain under family control, his company said Tuesday.

But despite the announcement, speculation continued here over the future of the group, Stoll Moss Theaters, which owns about 25% of the commercial stages in London’s “theaterland.”

The theaters are part of the widespread holdings of Holmes a Court, who died early Sunday of a heart attack at his home in Australia. His widow, Janet, and oldest son, Peter, will now become the major shareholders in the family company, Heytesbury Holdings.

Rumors have been swirling through London’s theater world that one or another of Holmes a Court’s rivals might swoop in to grab some of his historic West End jewels. Louis Benjamin, former president of Stoll Moss, told Britain’s Daily Telegraph that within hours of hearing that Holmes a Court had died, he had been asked to join two separate consortiums that wanted to buy the theater group. He would not name them, but said one was British and the other American.

There also has been speculation that members of Holmes a Court’s management team might attempt a buyout. Besides owning the Drury Lane, the West End’s largest commercial theater, Stoll Moss holdings include the legendary Palladium, where “Show Boat” is having a successful run, and Her Majesty’s, where “The Phantom of the Opera” is thriving.

While neither Heytesbury nor Stoll Moss would place a value on the theater group, outside estimates have run between $117 million and $146 million.

David Kiernan, finance director of Chesterfield Properties, which owns six West End theaters, said he did not have “the faintest” idea what the Stoll Moss group might be worth, but added that $146 million “seems like a lot to me.” But he, along with other industry observers, agreed that ownership of certain theaters carries great prestige and could boost the value in unpredictable ways.

“It’s like owning certain prestige hotels, such as the Dorchester or the Ritz,” said Rebecca Munns, an analyst with W.I. Carr in London.

Chesterfield has made no moves toward attempting to buy the Stoll Moss theaters, Kiernan said. But the company might be interested in buying pieces of the collection if they were to be sold individually.

“It would depend on which ones and how much they were asking,” Kiernan said.

Said Munns, “One wonders whether (composer Andrew) Lloyd Webber might be interested in owning more theaters.”

The business relationship between Lloyd Webber and Holmes a Court had not been pleasant. Earlier this year, at a time when the composer was trying to buy back shares to take his company private, the Australian had increased his holdings in Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group to 6.6%.

It is widely assumed in the West End that Holmes a Court purchased his minority stake in RUG with plans to force Lloyd Webber to sell him the spectacular Palace theater, where “Les Miserables” is running.

Holmes a Court’s Heytesbury company said it still has no plans to sell its RUG holdings. A spokesman for the Really Useful Group said Tuesday that Lloyd Webber is still interested in buying back the shares and will probably take some action soon.

Theater owners earn most of their income by splitting ticket sales with producers; in most cases the producer gets 60% with the theater owner getting 40%.

Stoll Moss itself, however, had recently begun investing in some shows and therefore began taking a larger percentage of the box office, said Peter Hepple, editor of the London trade paper The Stage. “They sometimes get a 50-50 split or even 40-60,” he said.