THE CRYSTAL and ceramics group Waterford Wedgwood said yesterday that it had raised €79.6 million from shareholders as part of an "open offer" fundraising.
This was €22.09 million below what the troubled group, which is controlled by Sir Anthony O'Reilly, had originally planned to raise in the stock offering. It means that a large number of shareholders will now have their holdings in the company diluted.
A spokesman for Waterford Wedgwood said it would now increase the level of funding being sought as part of its planned "placing" of shares, which is scheduled to be completed by November 30th. The group will seek to raise €74.1 million from institutional investors as part of the placing to bring the total raised to €153.7 million.
At an egm in Dublin yesterday to seek approval for the changes to its shareholder structure, Waterford Wedgwood's chief financial officer Anthony Jones said it had made 30 presentations to potential institutional investors in the past three weeks to progress the placing.
As part of the open offer, Sir Anthony and his brother-in-law Peter Goulandris, who is Waterford's deputy chairman, committed to buy stock worth €60 million.
Other investors made commitments worth €15 million. This included Corporate Partners Interests, a private equity fund managed by a division of investment bank Lazard, which subscribed for its full entitlement of about €9.7 million.
It also subscribed for an additional "excess entitlement" of about €5.3 million.
Killian Murphy, an equity analyst with Goodbody Stockbrokers in Dublin, said he was not "overly optimistic" that the luxury goods company would be able to raise €153.7 million. But he said the latest funding from shareholders was important for the company.
"They'll have working capital going into the key Christmas trading period, which they didn't have last year," he said.
"That's clearly a positive. Christmas will be a key period for them. The consumer slowdown in the US will impact them."
Waterford Wedgwood's planned disposal of its Rosenthal ceramics division in Germany has been put on hold until after its placing of shares has closed.
Recent reports have suggested that the Irish company has received interest from seven parties and is seeking €130-150 million for its German subsidiary.
