Deloitte completes Waterford Wedgewood sale

Deloitte said it has completed the sale of Waterford Wedgwood’s UK and
Ireland businesses to a US private equity firm for an undisclosed sum.

The Irish parent company of the crockery and glassware company went in
receivership while the UK business went into administration in January.

WWRD Holdings Limited, a company formed by KPS Capital Parnters LP, has
bought most of the company’s assets around the world, including in the US, Japan
and Indonesia, Deloitte said

The planned sale of Waterford Wedgewood to KPS was first announced last month
on the condition that KPS bought the overseas assets of the Waterford Wedgwood
group.

Angus Martin, Deloitte partner and joint administrator, said yesterday:
‘Today’s announcement follows the signing of a sale agreement which was
conditional on the conclusion of a number of overseas transactions.

‘We can confirm that the purchase of certain overseas assets of the Waterford
Wedgwood Group, including those in North America, Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong,
Taiwan, Singapore and Australia has also taken place.’

Pierre de Villemejane, the new chief executive officer of WWRD Holdings said:
‘We intend to grow the company organically and through acquisition, leveraging
our capital strength and the pre-committed acquisition facility contained in our
bank financing.’

‘We believe that our primary competitors are generally undercapitalized and
regionally focused, presenting a significant opportunity to consolidate the
industry worldwide.’