All Down To The Money

AEG will organise the construction and operation of Copenhagen’s new arena, provided the U.S. company can show it has the capital to finance the project.

AEG won the backing of the Copenhagen council’s culture and finance committees as well as the full council, and now has until June 20 to show it has the money.

The council has already taken out a 200 million kroner ($38.3 million) loan to fund its stake in the multipurpose arena, but Carsten Haurum – its chief exec for culture and sport – has said he’s worried the global credit crunch may put the kibosh on the whole project.

“We will negotiate with those that have put in tenders, but now they may find it more difficult to raise the money for the build,” he told Pollstar, prior to the tendering process.

The council hopes to develop the arena as a public/private partnership.

At press time it wasn’t possible to get comment from AEG or PrimeTime Kommunication, its Denmark-based press agency. The U.S. company has remained silent on the Danish arena and wouldn’t confirm it had made a bid for the contract until the city council made it public.

The new arena will be at Ørestad, which is being developed as a “new town” within the Danish capital, using the city’s Metro as the primary public transport grid and connecting the area with the rest of Copenhagen.