Majority owners may lose €400m

WATERFORD Wedgwood majority owners Anthony O’Reilly and Peter John Goulandris are set to lose close to €400 million following the collapse of the firm, with a buyer unlikely to be found.

O’Reilly and his brother-in-law own about 51% of Waterford Wedgwood through their investment vehicles, Birchfield Holdings and Stoneworth Investment.

Analysts said yesterday that in this climate it will be very hard find a buyer, meaning this investment would most likely be written off.

Bloxham stockbroker analyst Ross McEvoy said the investment from O’Reilly and Goulandris is “more or less lost”.

Waterford Wedgwood director and former chief executive Redmond O’Donoghue confirmed yesterday the businessmen had invested around €400m in the last four to five years.

He said this was an “enormous sum of money”, adding that they had put in €60m a few weeks ago, which was now “gone”.

He also said they were working non-stop over the last few weeks, even on Christmas Day, in a bid to save the company.

Mr McEvoy also said it is unlikely a buyer will be found for the company in this economic environment.

He said that if the company is sold it is likely that O’Reilly and Goulandris will “get nothing”, as the purchaser would likely buy the company for nothing, while also taking on the debt. He said the debt could soar to €600m in 2010.

“It is a large amount of debt to take on and it will be very difficult to find a buyer,” he said.

Waterford sought a €39m loan guarantee from the Government to save its crystal unit last year. The company said in October the division would be mostly closed down.

Waterford said last month its first-half net loss widened to €74.9m on reorganisation costs and lower sales.