Ardagh finalises Boxal acquisition

Packaging group Ardagh has completed the acquisition of the European division of Exal Corporation, the world’s biggest aluminium can producer.

The Dublin-based company announced plans to purchase the Boxal group of companies from Exal for €85 million last month.

The acquisition marks Ardagh’s first foray into the European aluminium can market.

Ardagh, which makes glass and metal containers for some of the world’s best-known food and consumer products, currently operates an aluminium can business in Australia.

The Dublin-based company has acquired two aluminium can plants in France and the Netherlands as part of the deal, as well as Exal’s share in a slug-making (aluminium stamped disc) joint venture in France, and its Hungarian business, Boxal Hungary.

The Boxal acquisition is the latest in a number of acquisitions completed by the group over the past year or so.

Most significantly, the company completed the acquisition of Impress, Europe’s second largest can manufacturer, in January last year, marking the glass company’s expansion into the metal packaging business and nearly trebling the group’s size.

The €1.7 billion acquisition of Impress, which manufactures cans for household names such as John West, Del Monte, Crown Paints and Procter Gamble, was funded through debt.

The Impress deal was followed by the acquisition of an Italian can maker, Fi Par, in March for an estimated €125 million.

Ardagh, which has its origins in the Irish Glass Bottle company and was formerly listed on the Irish stock exchange, went private in 2002. It subsequently sold the now infamous glass bottle site in Ringsend, Dublin to a consortium of investors for €412 million in 2006.

While the Ardagh Group is controlled by Paul Coulson, the group’s biggest shareholder, its investors also include financial institutions and private individuals.

The Ardagh Group makes metal and glass containers for some of the world’s leading food, beverage and consumer products and employs 14,000 people worldwide. The company, which is headed up by chief executive and shareholder Niall Wall, operates 88 manufacturing plants in 25 countries, and has an annual sales of more than €3.2 billion.