Sir Anthony O’Reilly on Tuesday launched what he called the “new” Waterford Wedgwood, announcing a massively discounted share offer by the lossmaking tableware company to raise €153.7m.

The fund-raising, which sees the stake owned by Sir Anthony and his brother-in-law Peter Goulandris fall from 54 per cent to about 40 per cent, is one of the conditions of a working capital facility agreed with its bankers in August.