Quintus, the sports and entertainment group, has acquired Kinnerton’s one third shareholding in Tennis Legends Limited, the company which owns The BlackRock Masters (formerly The Honda Challenge and The Masters Tennis) at the Royal Albert Hall.
The BlackRock Masters was founded by Peter Worth and John Beddington of Tennis Legends in 1997 and has been held annually thereafter. Televised live on BBC, the Tournament has brought the great legends of tennis to London such as John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, Boris Becker, Pat Cash, Jim Courier, Ilie Nastase, Henri Leconte and many others. Since 2004, the London event has been the end of season finale to The Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions.
John Beddington, Tournament Director of The BlackRock Masters since 1997, who was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame of Canadian Tennis for his work establishing the Canadian Open Tennis Championships in the 80’s and 90’s, will relinquish this role after the 2006 tournament. Peter Worth, CEO of Quintus said “John has been instrumental in building this tournament into the success it is today and we greatly appreciate his contribution. We wish him all the very best for the future.”
“It has been a privilege to be involved with this special tennis event for the past decade and I hope it continues to grow and provide tennis fans with its unique blend of top quality competitive tennis and entertainment”, said Beddington.
The 2006 BlackRock Masters will take place at the Royal Albert Hall from Tuesday 5th to Sunday 10th December.
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Quintus was founded in 1991 to create and market intellectual property rights in the field of sport and entertainment. Quintus is involved in sponsorship, corporate hospitality, event management and television rights. Quintus owns and manages a number of events including The BlackRock Masters at the Royal Albert Hall, The Legends Classic tennis at Hurlingham, The London Bierfest, the London Triathlon and the Challenger World series of events. Quintus is also an official corporate hospitality agent for the Rugby World Cup in France and for the Americas Cup in Spain, both in 2007.
For further information, please contact Peter Worth, CEO of Quintus, on +44 (0)20 7351 7499 or email on pworth@quintusgroup.com
