Pan-European cable company UGC yesterday denied the existence of a "merger business plan" for NTL Ireland and Chorus that would result in 185 redundancies.

In a statement issued in response to an article published in The Irish Times yesterday, the firm said "no discussions" had taken place in relation to the closure of any facilities of Chorus or NTL Ireland, such as the Waterford customer care facility, or the headcount reductions. It also said it "did not recognise" the savings that were mentioned in the article of €40.4 million in the three years after the merger of the cable firms.

However, UGC could give no assurance that it would keep its Waterford call centre open if it got approval to buy NTL and merge it with Chorus. A UGC spokesman said last night the firm had not started discussions on the issue yet so it was impossible to give a guarantee to staff.

UGC, which already owns the cable firm Chorus, is currently attempting to buy NTL Ireland to create a national cable company. The deal is awaiting approval from the Competition Authority and the Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment.

UGC's bank Morgan Stanley has already paid €325 million to NTL for its Irish unit as part of a complex financial arrangement whereby UGC plans to acquire the asset from Morgan Stanley.

UGC has already admitted that there will be redundancies as a result of any prospective merger between Chorus and NTL.

The Irish Times reported yesterday that UGC plans to cut 185 jobs and close its Waterford call centre if it gets approval for the acquisition of NTL Ireland from the Competition Authority.

The post merger plans were contained in documents seen by The Irish Times, which UGC said yesterday it did not prepare.

UGC owns cable operations in 14 countries across Europe. Its proposed merger of Chorus and NTL would create a company with 550,000 cable television customers. The firms employ about 950 people.