Clara Candy, the Finglas-based sweet manufacturer which went into receivership just before Christmas has been sold for a figure believed to be £2.5 million. The buyer is Haribo, a leading German sweet manufacturer.

It is understood that the company will add the factory to its existing operations and it is expected that many of the 105 workers will be re-employed. Haribo is a private company with interests worldwide. Sources say Haribo is one of the biggest sugar confectionery manufacturers in the EU and is owned by a 70-year-old German industrialist. It is expected that Haribo will invest heavily in the Finglas plant and get it up and running again within a matter of weeks.

Clara Candy produced jelly babies as well as fruit pastilles and novelty sweets. The company had an annual turnover of about £12 million and the majority of its products were exported to Britain and Scandanavia.

It was very profitable in the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, its problems began with a move into the British market, which was followed by a sharp and lengthy appreciation in the value of the pound in 1995/96. This made its sweets very expensive in Britain.

The company had racked up substantial losses in recent years. Some sources put this at around £6 million. It had a number of trade creditors including packaging companies and Irish Sugar. Bank of Ireland and Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) were its biggest creditors and between them were owed around £3 million. The Revenue Commissioners were also creditors.

BNP appointed Mr Billy O'Riordan of accountants Coopers & Lybrand as receiver to the plant before Christmas. Mr O'Riordan was unavailable for comment last night.

However, when an attempt to sell the company collapsed BNP moved to secure its loans and appointed Mr O'Riordan on the basis of charges it held on the business.