FDBusiness.com

Ardagh Group, a global leader in glass and metal packaging solutions, has entered into exclusive negotiations to purchase Verallia North America from Compagnie de Saint-Gobain for $1.7 billion (€1.275 billion). The transaction would be subject to US regulatory approval and would be expected to close later this year.

VNA, which has its headquarters in Muncie, Indiana, is the second largest glass container manufacturer in the US, serving the North American wine, food and beverage industries. It produces approximately 9 billion containers annually from its 13 facilities located throughout the United States and employs approximately 4,400 people. VNA has annual revenues of approximately $1.6 billion (€1.2 billion).

Paul Coulson, Ardagh Group Chairman, comments: “The acquisition of Verallia North America would be another important milestone in the evolution of Ardagh as it would add scale, diversity and value to our global packaging operations. The transaction would increase the size of our glass business globally by almost 60% and be a very significant step in developing our operations in the US. It would result in approximately 40% of Ardagh Group’s total sales and EBITDA being generated in the US.”

The acquisition of VNA will also allow Ardagh to expand its glass operations into the very important wine sector in the US for the first time.

Ardagh has also announced that it will raise, partly in euro and partly in US dollars, a total of $1.45 billion equivalent of debt financing through the issue of Senior Secured Notes and Senior Notes. The proceeds would be used to pay the cash consideration for the acquisition and certain costs.