It looks like the music venue business in Richmond is just as hard as we imagined – The National, one of the better venues for big-name touring acts in RVA,
It looks like the music venue business in Richmond is just as hard as we imagined – The National, one of the better venues for big-name touring acts in RVA, is being sold after a mess of legal trouble plagued the venues management.
Richmond BizSense has the details:
The National was sold by RIC Capital Ventures LLC, a company that for the last 11 months had been entangled in a legal dispute among its owners over how the business and its money were being managed.
The suit was filed in October 2013 by James River Entertainment, a group of investors who owned a minority stake in the National. It claimed that RIC Capital principals A. William Reid and J. Scott Benton concealed revenue from ticket sales, excluded the minority investors from receiving a share of revenue and denied access to accurate copies of its books. The suit further claimed Reid and Benton paid themselves “exorbitant” personal compensation.
The case also alleged that the defendants diverted funds from the National to other business interests. Reid and Benton were part-owners of the Norva, a concert venue in Norfolk. They sold to AEG for $5.9 million on Sept. 24, according to Norfolk city records.
Jim Cosby, an attorney with Vandeventer Black who represented James River Entertainment in the lawsuit, said the minority owners agreed to be bought out and dismiss the case, clearing a path for the sale to AEG.
“We agreed to a redemption of JRE’s interest that allowed the sale to occur because it represented a favorable liquidity event for my clients,” Cosby said. “Having that result, there was no further need to maintain the lawsuit, so we agreed to a dismissal.”
No word yet as to what this means for future shows at The National, but at least an “entertainment company” bought it, so let’s hope they stay the course.
Check out the rest of the story at RichmondBizsense here.
