Bank of Ireland and AIB are among a group of finance houses that will provide funding for Arsenal's new £357 million sterling stadium at Ashburton Grove.
In a statement to the London Stock Exchange today Arsenal confirmed that loans of £260 million have been secured from a consortium of banks including the Royal Bank of Scotland, Espirito Santo Investment, Bank of Ireland, Allied Irish Banks , CIT Group Structured Finance and HSH Nordbank AG with the Royal Bank of Scotland acting as facility agent for the group.
The level of support by the individual banks was not released by the club and Bank of Ireland declined to reveal their level of investment.
The 60,000 seat stadium will be built under a fixed price £220 million contract by Sir Robert McAlpine Limited in time for the start of the 2006/7 season.
The £357 million will be used to fund the construction of the stadium and also to refinance the estimated £100 million already spent on the project.
The Royal Bank of Scotland and Espirito Santo Investment will provide a contingency fund of £15.4 million to meet unforeseen circumstances.
Interest on the senior debt will be at a commercial and fully hedged fixed rate over the 14 year term.