Legacy plc, the consortium backed by Treasury Holdings will know by the end of this week if its £125 million sterling (€197 million) bid for the Millennium Dome will succeed. The consortium has now complied with a number of demands made by the British government - including the announcement yesterday of a dilution of the Irish group's 80 per cent stake through the introduction of new investors.
Mr John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, and other British ministers are expected to meet tomorrow to review progress in the negotiations. A government spokesman denied reports that Legacy's preferred bidder status expired today. He said the talks with Legacy would be extended.
"We have delivered everything and should know towards the end of this week whether we are a million miles away from a deal or have made significant progress," a Legacy spokesman said. The objective is to conclude the deal by the end of the month, he said.
Yesterday, Legacy announced that the Teesland Group, a private British property company, had taken an undisclosed equity stake in the consortium. It is understood that the British group will have around a 10 per cent stake and the existing investors are being diluted pro-rata.
The other investors are British developer Mr Robert Bourne who chairs Legacy and has a 15 per cent stake and Bank of Scotland with 5 per cent. The building group Sir Robert McAlpine has indicated it will also take a 5 per cent stake. Teesland has developed a number of business and technology parks in the UK and will take on a project management role with the consortium.
It had originally been intended that primary responsibility for the management of the project would rest with Treasury - controlled by Mr John Ronan and Mr Richard Barrett - but they will now share this role with Teesland. Legacy denied yesterday that the involvement of Teesland was intended to counter fears over the secretive and controversial Irish group, Treasury, which had been the subject of a sustained attack by Conservative politicians. It was also the subject of much negative comment in the British media.
The attacks continued yesterday with Mr Archie Norman, the shadow environment minister saying: "The latest investment from Teesland raises even more questions. It is quite possible that Legacy have made a profit on the sale of shares even before the purchase has been agreed."
Teesland has previously worked with English Partnerships, the state development agency that is selling the Dome. Its principle shareholder is Mr Kevin McCabe and his family and it is financed by Bank of Scotland. The company has a development portfolio in excess of £1.1 billion sterling and assets under management of £500 million sterling - making it comparable in size to Treasury. Legacy wants to turn the Dome into a hi-tech business city - known as Knowledge City.
Teesland has helped turn the former Naval dockyard at Rosyth in Scotland into a 120-acre business park and is also creating a 20-acre science park - Innova - in north London.
