The estates of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II – the duo who composed and wrote Big Band musical classics like The Sound of Music, Oklahoma!, The King and I, and South Pacific - have sold the rights to their songs and musicals to Imagem Music Group. Imagem is controlled by the Netherlands-based Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP, the world's third-biggest pension fund.

Imagem, the music publishing investment fund set up last year by ABP and CP Masters BV, will buy the rights to the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organiation's collection of more than 12,000 songs and 900 concert works, which includes the production of artists like the memorable Irving Berlin.

The the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, which held the catalogue rights for the legendary pair's opuses, is under the active control of heirs Mary Rodgers Guettel and Alice Hammerstein Mathias. The sale represents a transfer of power over one of America's most famous song catalogues and the licensing rights for future productions of the musicals.

The price of the deal remains undisclosed, but Imagem has announced that it is retaining the organisation's management, led by its president and executive director, Theodore S Chapin.

Chapin said that Imagem was committed to maintaining high artistic standards for both future productions and the commercial licensing of specific songs. Guettel and Hammerstein Mathias will also remain involved as part of an advisory committee.

''I would say with some modesty that there is a way that I've run RHO, with Mary and Alice, that is appealing to Imagem, and they want to keep me here, and I won't be changing my approach,'' he added.

Richard Rodgers, who composed the music, died in 1979. His partner Oscar Hammerstein II, who contributed the lyrics, predeceased him in 1960. Together they produced a string of theatrical hits in the 1940s and 1950s, a period widely considered the golden age of Broadway. Their music lives on, thanks to multiple Oscar-winning Hollywood productions of some of their best theatre.

Among many other laurels, their shows and film versions garnered 34 Tony Awards, 15 Academy Awards, the Pulitzer Prize, and two Grammys.

The estates have been talking for about a year to prospective buyers, including Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose musicals are represented by RHO in North America. Chapin said that the heirs wanted to sell the organisation while it is still in strong shape, and to take advantage of Imagem's global reach to seek new licensing deals in Europe and Asia.

''Figuring out the right time to sell a family business is always tricky, but you never want to be in a situation where a family business has frayed and it's too late to fix or to sell,'' Chapin said. ''And since Imagem is global, I hope they can help us disseminate the works we represent with a little more moxie [guts in English].''

André de Raaff, the chief executive of Imagem, said in an interview that he believed that musical theater classics like Rodgers and Hammerstein songs were ''a very solid investment'' for pension money. ''I see musicals as a very big growth area for investment,'' de Raaff said.

ABP, which oversees the pensions of about 2.7 million Dutch state employees, including teachers and firemen, is seeking new ways to generate money as retirees live longer and equities decline. The R&H collection has an estimated value of $200 million, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier.

Anneke Bouman, a spokeswoman for Imagem, and Michel Meijs, a spokesman for ABP, declined to comment on the terms of the transaction.

Music works
Earlier this month, Imagem paid $183 million for the rights to the works of classical music publisher Boosey & Hawkes Ltd. The company also manages music publishing rights for recent pop idols like Britney Spears, Lionel Ritchie and Justin Timberlake, according to its website.

ABP, founded in 1922, filed a recovery plan to the Dutch central bank earlier this year after its ratio of assets to obligations fell below the regulatory threshold as returns from stocks and bonds dropped. The Heerlen, Netherlands-based fund's coverage ratio of assets compared with future benefit payments was 86 per cent at the end of March.

Returns on ABP's investments fell 11.5 per cent in the fourth quarter and assets under management declined to 173 billion euros ($223 billion) at the end of 2008.