Royal Doulton wins rights issue vote

Royal Doulton's shareholders voted overwhelming in favour of a rescue rights issue in preference to rival refinancing proposals from Waterford Wedgwood.

The fine china group, in which Waterford Wedgwood holds a 21.16 per cent stake, said that 75 per cent of the votes cast on the question of its £19m fund-raising had been in favour of the deal, meaning it will go ahead.

Earlier in the day, Waterford Wedgwood revealed it planned to vote against the resolution to approve the rights issue because it believed its own restructuring proposal was in shareholders' best interests.

The group, which is chaired by Sir Anthony O'Reilly, who is also the executive chairman of Independent News & Media, the publisher of The Independent, had asked Royal Doulton to delay its meeting for another four weeks to consider its plan.

Its proposal included buying Royal Doulton's Royal Albert brand for £24m cash as well as lending the company £12m at a rate below existing financing costs for three years. The move, it said, would have ensured Royal Albert china continued to be manufactured in Staffordshire rather than made in Indonesia.

Royal Doulton confirmed yesterday it had held "extensive" discussions with Waterford Wedgwood but had concluded its proposal had "neither the clarity, certainty of execution or substantive merit" of the Royal Doulton plan.

It remained convinced that its rights issue, which is fully underwritten by the investment bank Cazenove, was the "best way" for all its shareholders to "participate in a recovery of the company's prospects".

Despite the setback, Waterford Wedgwood said it "continues to believe that its alternative restructuring proposals are in the best interests of Royal Doulton shareholders".