By Allison Zisko

NEW YORK–A private equity group affiliated with Peter Cameron has made a bid for Waterford Wedgwood, the troubled tabletop company that Cameron once headed.
The move comes as turmoil surrounds the company, with a possible competing bid from members of the Wedgwood family and protesting glassmakers at Waterford’s now shuttered factory in Ireland.
Clarion Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity investment firm is the latest bidder for Waterford Wedgwood and has been in discussions with the company, which went into receivership last month, as well as with the Irish government and the labor union.
Clarion is being advised by John Foley, the former chief executive officer of Waterford Crystal who resigned last month. Clarion owns Hartmann luggage, where Cameron is the chief executive officer. Cameron, who confirmed the bid, told HFN that he has collaborated with Clarion for many years.
Executives at Clarion did not immediately return phone calls.
While he declined to explain why Clarion placed a bid for Waterford Wedgwood, Cameron said, “We believe we have a structure that allows for the continued manufacture of crystal in Waterford.”
The transfer of jobs offshore, amid hundreds of layoffs at both Waterford and Wedgwood, has been a hot button issue.
Last month, another New York-based private equity firm, KPS Capital Partners, placed a bid on the company. According to reports in the European press, however, KPS would relocate manufacturing out of Ireland, where some of the company’s crystal was still being made, as well as England, where Wedgwood still maintains factories. Wedgwood manufactures some of its dinnerware in an Indonesian facility.
Two Wedgwood family members are also reportedly interested in making a bid for the company and want to transfer the design and production of Wedgwood products back to England.
According to a report by BBC News online, Tom R. Wedgwood, until recently the director of Wedgwood in Japan, and Tom D. Wedgwood, the son of a 42-year, non-executive board member of Waterford Wedgwood, are leading a team of four former directors and other Wedgwood family members and are in talks with investors from the Middle East, Asia and the United Kingdom. It was unclear whether this group has made an official bid, however.
Meanwhile, hundreds of laid-off workers in Waterford, Ireland, have spent three nights occupying the factory, which was closed by bankruptcy officials last Friday, according to a report by the International Herald Tribune online. The workers reportedly are determined to stay inside the factory until the shutdown is reversed.