Bondholders who took over Paul Coulson’s Ardagh empire last year are looking to sell their stake in Ardagh Metal Packaging (AMP)
In a statement on Thursday, Ardagh Holdings said its board of directors had instructed advisers to prepare for a potential sale of AMP.
Ardagh Holdings is the ultimate parent company of Ardagh Group which, in turn, holds a 76 per cent stake in AMP.
AMP was spun out of the glass and bottle group then controlled by Dublin businessman Coulson through a merger with a special purpose acquisition vehicle (Spac) on the New York Stock Exchange in August 2021. This saw the rump Ardagh group receive $3.3 billion (€2.86 billion) in cash.
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Coulson, who started by taking control of the long-defunct Irish Glass Bottle Company in Ringsend, Dublin, built Ardagh over 25 years into an international glass and metal packaging giant with more than $9 billion of annual sales, on the back of a series of debt-fuelled deals in so-called junk-bond markets.
[ Irish mogul Paul Coulson insists on $300m to walk away from ArdaghOpens in new window ]
That debt became unsustainable when earnings were hit after the Covid-19 pandemic by inflation, soaring interest rates and soft consumer demand on both sides of the Atlantic.
Late last year, bondholders owed $4.2 billion took control of the group with legacy equity holders, including Coulson, being paid $300 million.
A court case involving dissident bondholders unhappy at the $108 million payout to Coulson and the money given to other shareholders was only resolved in June.
Now the bondholders are looking to cash in on the metal packaging business.
It has recovered strongly in recent years and reported an 18 per cent rise in sales to $1.7 billion in the three months to the end of June. Earnings were up 14 per cent to $240 million over the three months on an adjusted Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) basis.
Releasing those numbers in July, AMP said it was raising full-year adjusted Ebitda guidance to $775 million–$790 million, from $750 million to $775 million previously “assuming modest global shipments growth”.
Shares in the group jumped over 5 per cent on the news before coming back slightly.
As of Thursday, AMP stock was up by almost a third over the past year at a level not seen since February 2023, giving the business a market capitalisation of $3.14 billion.
Ardagh Holdings said it planned to sell “some or all of the equity interests” it holds in AMP.
It said the sale could see it buying the shares it did not hold in AMP “to facilitate a sale of all of the equity interests in AMP to a third-party buyer”.
AMP operates 23 production facilities in nine countries, employing about 6,500 people. It had sales of $5.5 billion in 2025.
Ardagh Group also operates 35 glass packaging sites employing 12,500 people, with sales of about $4.1 billion last year.
The holding company said it had not set any deadline on the sale process, also saying it would not comment further unless required.
Ardagh Holdings has appointed Evercore International Partners as financial adviser on the deal and Kirkland & Ellis International as lead legal adviser.
