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Davy Hickey Properties plans to recoup its proposed £40 million-plus investment in Eircom Park through revenue from corporate…

Davy Hickey Properties plans to recoup its proposed £40 million-plus investment in Eircom Park through revenue from corporate boxes and other pre-sold seating. It is understood that the development company will take an equity stake in the stadium project which will be sold back to the FAI when corporate boxes and other seating come up for re-sale 10 years into the life of the stadium.

The income from the first 10-year period has already been committed to the project by the FAI.

Sources close to Davy Hickey said yesterday that the company and its backers were, in essence, offering to meet the shortfall between the cost of the project and the funds available to the FAI.

They would take an equity stake in return that it would be sold back to the FAI over time. The funds would come from the sale of corporate boxes and seating. The property company's contribution would include the site near Citywest - the high-tech business park in West Dublin - on which the stadium is to be built.

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Davy Hickey are part owners of Citywest along with a number of other wealthy investors including Martin Naughton of Glen Dimplex and Sean Mulryan of Ballymore Homes. Davy Hickey itself is owned by the developer Brendan Hickey and some of the senior management of Davy Stockbrokers - an autonomous subsidiary of Bank of Ireland. The company was set up with the intention of combining the property development skills of Hickey with the financial resources of Davy's client list. Its most significant development is Citywest, which was 13 years in gestation.

Many of the individuals involved in Citywest are also shareholders in the Saggart Partnership, which owns the £16 million site on which Eircom Park is to be built. The members of the Saggart Partnership are also expected to take a stake in the stadium project.

A source close to the investors said yesterday that the approach being made to the FAI was commercially based. "It is the equivalent to building a factory when you know that you have a guaranteed tenant," he said. Although the Citywest principals stand to benefit indirectly from the building of the stadium which will drive development of the whole area, the project is financially viable, said the insider.

"These people take a long-term view," explained another individual familiar with Davy Hickey and its allies.

Preliminary discussions have already taken place between the company and the FAI. It is understood that the approach is conditional on the organisation as a whole supporting the concept and also on the FAI's figures standing up to scrutiny.

Davy Hickey will also want to have a say in the management of the stadium and the events that are staged there. It is understood that they accept that many of the larger football fixtures may be staged at the proposed national stadium in Abbottstown that is backed by the Government.

A spokesman for Davy Hickey confirmed last night that the company had written to Pat Quigley of the FAI.

John McManus

John McManus

John McManus is a columnist and Duty Editor with The Irish Times