(31 Dec 2008) SHOTLIST
1. Pan (right to left) exterior of Waterford Royal Doulton factories
2. Close of sign reading: (English) "The Royal Doulton Company"
3. Pan (left to right) of bone china in display cabinet
4. Various of bone china products, made by Royal Doulton, in cabinet
5. Mid of Tony O'Reilly Jr., representative of O'Reilly family
6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Tony O'Reilly Jr., representative of O'Reilly family:
"In our case, it was also exacerbated by exchange rates moving quite significantly. I mean, a major proportion of our business is in the United States so the change of the Euro and Sterling rates to US dollar obviously had an adverse impact. So it was out of necessity for the business as a whole that we obviously look to secure, you know, efficient offshore manufacturing and obviously in our case we had the benefit that we own the facility."
7. Mid of worker painting bone china
8. Wide of pieces of china on production line going through kiln
9. Various of china going through kiln
10. Wide pan (right to left) of bone china being hand-painted
11. Various of worker hand-painting gold-leaf on bone china items
12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Tony O'Reilly Jr., representative of O'Reilly family:
"Well, we do about now, I mean, it's pretty much the equivalent, it would be about ten million pieces of ceramics, similar and a little bit more in the UK and that's really what the prize is, is to basically move the lion share of that production here to Indonesia. That being said there will always be a certain level of production in the United Kingdom and indeed Ireland, prestige items and certain core patterns that will stay. So, we are not abandoning our original countries of origin, we're just simply, you know, reflecting the times that have changed in the world and making sure that the business as a whole can continue to have a future and run profitably and clearly that requires you to have a cost competitive manufacturing base."
13. Various of bone china products on display in rotating case
STORYLINE:
For more than two centuries, Waterford crystal and Wedgwood china have been symbols of Irish and British craftsmanship.
Now, their future may lie in Asia.
Short of funds for operations and loan payments, Waterford Wedgwood PLC is in advanced talks to sell a controlling stake to a US private equity fund for roughly 600 (m) million euros (846 (m) million US dollars) in cash and assumed debt, three people briefed on the negotiations told The Associated Press late last week.
The prospective new owners may move the company's management and possibly its headquarters to Indonesia, one of the sources said.
They would not identify the fund and spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are confidential.
However, Tony O'Reilly Jr., whose family own a stake in Waterford Wedgwood, confirmed the aim was to move the "lion share" of production to Indonesia so the business "as a whole can continue to have a future and run profitably and clearly that requires you to have a cost competitive manufacturing base".
O'Reilly said the company had the benefit of already owning a facility in Indonesia which would help it "secure efficient offshore manufacturing".
With a Friday deadline set by creditors, a deal could come as soon as this week, though the Bank of America-led lender group has extended the company's deadline three times previously.
But the global financial crisis has pushed it to the brink of bankruptcy.
As credit dried up, the company could no longer raise money to cover costs.
Its shares have collapsed to one-tenth of a Euro cent on the Irish Stock Exchange.
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