China-maker Wedgwood is put up for sale
WATERFORD Wedgwood, the 250-year-old luxury china and glassware maker, has been put up for sale by its owners, six years after being rescued from the brink of collapse.
KPS Capital Partners, the US private equity firm, has hired bankers at Goldman Sachs to find a buyer for WWRD, the owner of the Waterford, Wedgwood, Royal Albert and Royal Doulton luxury brands.
The historic Anglo-Irish group fell into administration in 2009 after its lenders called in their loans.
Its former majority owner, the Irish media tycoon Sir Anthony O’Reilly, had spent over €400m (£305m) trying to keep the company afloat. However, it had struggled with falling demand for its wares and was in need of a turnaround.
KPS bought most of Waterford Wedgwood’s assets from receivers Deloitte in March 2009 for €107m via a new holding company WWRD.
The firm now generates $450m (£296m) of sales, with around 80 per cent coming from the Americas and Asia. It also has 56 shops in China where its brands are popular with the country’s burgeoning middle-class, and announced plans last week to buy back 21 of the stores from a distributor.
WWRD declined to comment yesterday on the sale, saying “options for the next phase of growth are constantly under review. KPS Capital Partners remains firmly committed to achieving the brightest possible future for the brands and employees of WWRD.”