WW buys U.S. cookware firm

By Andrew Bushe

DUBLIN — Waterford Wedgwood hopes to cash in on changing lifestyles with its purchase of U.S. luxury cookware company All-Clad of Pennsylvania for £82 million.

At the moment, 97 percent of All-Clad’s sale are in the U.S. and the premium brand crystal and ceramics group plans to launch the brand worldwide.

Chief Executive Redmond O’Donoghue described it as a "very exciting" departure for the company and was prompted by a major lifestyle shift that was taking place.

"Home entertaining has moved from the fairly formal to casual and it is beginning to move from the dining room to the kitchen," O’Donoghue said. "The days of the jacket-and-tie dinners are fast dying and it’s much more about slacks and open-neck shirts now."

Last year, Waterford Wedgwood bought the Bavaria-based Rosenthal luxury porcelain company.