The West End's Ambassadors Theatre has been sold to Ambassador Theatre Group, a spokesperson for Ambassador Theatre Group North America confirmed to Playbill December 28. ATG will take over the running of the theatre beginning early January 2019.

The venue had been in the works to be refurbished and renamed the Sondheim Theatre through a sale to Les Misérables and Phantom of the Opera producer Cameron Mackintosh, but that deal ultimately fizzled. The sale will see the theatre return to ATG control following their tenure with the space from 1995 to 2007.

The acquisition makes ATG owner of ten West End theatres, including the Apollo Victoria (currently home to Wicked) and the Savoy. The company owns theatres worldwide, including 24 U.K. regional venues, Broadway's Hudson and Lyric Theatres, the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, and four theatres in Louisiana and Texas.

The intimate, 410-seat Ambassadors Theatre originally opened in 1913, designed by architect W.G.R. Sprague. Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, the longest-running production in worldwide theatre history, began its run at the Ambassadors, playing from 1952 to 1974 before moving next door to the St. Martin's Theatre (where it continues today). The theatre was later home to John Doyle's actor-musician Sweeney Todd before the production transferred to Broadway.