Japanese to invest in Dome

London - A Japanese-led consortium has won the battle to take over Britain's Millennium Dome, and will pump hundreds of millions…

London - A Japanese-led consortium has won the battle to take over Britain's Millennium Dome, and will pump hundreds of millions of pounds into reviving the troubled attraction, the government announced yesterday.

The Dome Europe group, backed by Japan's Nomura finance house, will spend £800 million on turning the huge Thames-side showcase and the surrounding area into an amusement park with hotels, offices and a riverside beach.

The lifeline ensures that the Dome, which has flirted with insolvency due to sluggish visitor numbers and a £758 million construction cost, will not go bankrupt.