Theatre impresario Joop van den Ende will sign an agreement on Thursday with British private equity firm CVC for a majority stake in his Stage Entertainment company, sources have told the Financieele Dagblad.

Van den Ende told the FD last December he was considering selling a majority of his shares in Stage Entertainment and was in preliminary talks with a number of parties.

Stage Entertainment needs a capital injection to allow it to grow further. In addition, the 73-year-old Van den Ende’s health is fragile. For these reasons, the Dutch arm of the company took over Albert Verlinde Entertainment in March, with TV presenter Verlinde heading up the merged operation.

How much the deal with CVC is worth is not yet known and will depend on the profit in the current book year which closes at the end of July. Last December, the FD said the company was valued at €500m.

Stage Entertainment, which is active in several other EU countries and the US, booked net profit of €50m last year on turnover of €515m.