After mortgaging their homes eight years ago to provide start-up capital for the company the two main shareholders in Icon - Dr Ronan Lambe and Dr John Climax - will be worth £28 million each when Icon floats on the NASDAQ market next month.

Icon is being floated on NASDAQ at between $14 and $16 a share. Dr Lambe and Dr Climax are each selling 296,800 Icon shares into the flotation and each is raising $4.45 million (£3.2 million) from the share sales, at the $15 mid-point of the price range. In addition, both founder-directors may sell a further 111,300 shares worth $1.67 million (£1.2 million) if the underwriters exercise an over-allotment option.

The flotation will also provide a windfall for the state industrial development agency Forbairt whose 637,040 shares - 6 per cent of the total after the flotation - will be worth $9.6 million (£6.8 million) at the $15 mid-point offer price.