Treasury Holdings, the main backer of the consortium preparing to take over London's Millennium Dome insisted today that the deal was going ahead despite news that another major rival was ready to throw its hat into the ring to buy the attraction.
But Morris Harte, spokesman for Treasury Holdings, which is backing the Legacy bid, admitted the consortium was in a difficult position.
And he continued to refuse to name major companies interested in taking space in the planned "knowledge village".
Yesterday, British deputy prime minister John Prescott said there were "problems" with the bid.
Grosvenor Estates, owned by the Duke of Westminster, said that if the British government decided to invite new bids for the Dome, it could join forces with Quintain Estates, which already owns a 12-acre site on the Greenwich peninsula.
They would have the option of building luxury riverside apartments and offices next to the Dome.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Harte said: "I have heard a number of people are interested in getting involved in the Dome and I think that is a good reflection of the work done by Legacy."
The Dome project was unique but problems thrown up in the course of talks with the (British) government were "nothing out of the ordinary, nothing I have not come up against before and nothing that would cause me concern", he said.
He added: "To have a firm signed up and agreed as a tenant when you don't even own the property is quite difficult.
"I can confirm that based on my knowledge and based on the research we have done there is interest from a number of well respected names."
Treasury Holdings, the Dublin property company run by Mr Johnny Ronan and Mr Richard Barrett, emerged last September as one of the main financial backers of the consortium.
Treasury Holdings has been involved in a number of developments in Dublin that would be considered large by Irish standard, but has not developed anything on the scale of the Dome project.
PA