Sebastian Coe, the chairman of London 2012, said that they remain on target to raise £750 million in sponsorship to help pay for the £2.5 billion operating costs of the Games.

 

Addressing the London Assembly, he said: "Because we began tier-one negotiations early we have already secured the majority of our domestic sponsorship.

 

"We are not complacent and of course still have funds to secure.

 

"Despite the turbulent economic situation, we continue to see strong interest from potential sponsors.

 

"[London] 2012 still provides a unique opportunity and the success of Beijing demonstrated the power of being associated with the games.

 

"We are still seeing a lot of interest. "

 

Coe was supported by Paul Deighton, the chief executive of London 2012, who said that they have so far raised £430 million worth of sponsorship.

 

London 2012 currently has signed seven tier-one sponsors - Adidas, British Airways, BP, BT, EDF Energy, Lloyds TSB and Nortel - and two tier-two partnesr, Cadbury and Deloitte.

 

Deighton said that London is currently concentrating on sponsors who are able to provide services and value in kind.

 

He told Assembly members: "We are looking for sponsors who provide their contributions through the goods and services we need to put on the Games.

 

"The value in that way is an easier thing to negotiate in difficult economic circumstances than raising cash."

 

Meanwhile, Gerhard Heiberg, the head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Marketing Commission, said that he is in talks with several companies about filling one or two more spots in the worldwide sponsorship programme for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and London.

 

It followed the decision on Monday, as reported on insidethegames, that Johnson & Johnson were not renewing its $100 million (£66.6 million) sponsorship deal for Vancouver and London.

 

Heiberg said: "Of course, it is a disappointment when some of our partners do not renew.

 

"We understand times change, companies change, they change strategy.

 

"It is to be expected that we have a certain rotation of TOP sponsors."

 

But the Norwegian said that he remained hopeful that the 2009-2013 sponsorship cycle would reach $100 billion (£667 million).

 

The IOC has nine partners for 2009-12 and already has raised more than the $886 million (£590.2 million) it received from 2005-08.

 

Heiberg said: "We still hope that will be our figure.

 

"We are very close.

 

"We need one more to go over.

 

"I would rather have 11 [sponsors], but I will be happy with 10."

 

 

 

 

 

"We are in discussions with several companies in different product lines, and we are pursuing this of course.

 

"In the current financial climate, it is not the best time to conclude big deals at the moment, so we are taking it a little easy."

 

The global sponsors remaining for 2009-2013 are Acer, Atos Origin, Coca-Cola, GE, McDonald's, Omega, Panasonic, Samsung and Visa.

 

The Panasonic and Samsung deals run through 2016, and Coke is signed up through 2020.