Business News

Ardagh Glass acquires Impress Metal Packaging for €1.7 billion

Tuesday 05. October 2010 - Ardagh Glass Group is pleased to announce the acquisition of global metal packaging group Impress Coöperatieve U.A. for €1.7 billion from private equity firm Doughty Hanson. The enlarged business will trade as Ardagh Packaging Group and will have annual revenues of more than €3 billion. The acquisition is conditional on EU and US competition authority approvals.

Impress is a global metal packaging company with annual revenues of €1.8 billion, operating 57 facilities in 22 countries across five continents and employing 7,500 people. It is a major player in the European, North American and Australasian markets.
Ardagh Glass is currently the third largest glass packaging manufacturer in Europe with revenues of €1.2 billion, operating 24 facilities in seven countries. It employs 6,500 people and provides glass packaging solutions to the food and beverage industry.
Commenting, Ardagh Chairman Paul Coulson said: “This is a transformational deal for Ardagh providing us with global reach and scale. The acquisition of Impress will enable Ardagh to become a major force in world packaging.”
Also commenting, Niall Wall, Ardagh’s CEO, said: “The newly enlarged group will operate 81 facilities with leading market positions across 24 countries. The new business will have considerable scale with sales in excess of €3 billion and employing 14,000 people.”
In connection with the acquisition, Ardagh plans to offer approximately €1.7 billion of secured and unsecured notes in euros and US dollars. The Senior Secured Notes will be
guaranteed on a senior secured basis by Ardagh Glass Holdings Limited and certain of its wholly-owned subsidiaries. The Senior Notes will be guaranteed on a senior basis by Ardagh Glass Holdings Limited and on a senior subordinated basis by certain of its wholly-owned subsidiaries.