Waterford Crystal redundancy package deadline unlikely to be met

THE Friday deadline for acceptance of the Labour Relations Commission redundancy package put to Waterford Crystal workers is unlikely to be met.

It is understood many of the 485 workers facing the axe have issues to be resolved and that an extension will be sought.

With a two-week shutdown due to start on Monday, it is thought workers will use the time to figure out the best option open to them.

Tomorrow is the deadline for acceptance of the offer which has a maximum two year’s salary cap on all settlements to be made.

The rights issue deadline expired on July 18 and it is believed Waterford Wedgwood chairman Tony O’Reilly and brother-in-law Peter Goulandris will end up funding most of the 7-for-11 issue at 6 cents per share.

The difficulty for institutions was the issue price was above the market price at the time and fund managers could not take part for that reason.

The final uptake is expected to be known shortly but it looks likely that Mr O’Reilly and his in- laws will end up funding the bulk of the near €100 million rights issue, which will fund the targeted 1,800 redundancies across the group.

The 7-for-11 rights issue aims to raise a total of €96.5m after expenses for the troubled company.

According to the rights issue document, Mr O’Reilly and Mr Goulandris have received approval from both the Irish Takeover Panel and independent shareholders to increase their stake in the group to a maximum of 53.9% without making a bid for the company, in the event that they have to fully support the issue.

The Irish job cuts are part of a wider rationalisation programme announced by parent company Waterford Wedgwood, which will see the company’s workforce worldwide reduced by some 1,800.

Mr O’Reilly said he regretted the job losses, but claimed they were vital to ensure the long-term prosperity of the company and its “key heritage plants” in Ireland, Britain and Germany.

If the rights issue is seriously under-subscribed, as is likely, the O’Reilly and Goulandris families will have invested close to €200m in the struggling luxury goods group since stepping in to rescue the business several years ago.