Ardagh's VNA acquisition extended to April

Published 14th January, 2014 by Greg Morris

The closing date of Ardagh's acquisition of Verallia North America has been extended until April 30.

Ardagh said that to enable the settlement negotiations with the Federal Trade Commission to be concluded, Ardagh and Saint-Gobain have agreed to extend the final closing date from 13 January 2014 to 30 April 2014.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has delayed the planned acquisition, amid concerns that Ardagh’s majority market share would impact negatively on the price paid by drinks consumers. Ardagh, which has previously acquired Anchor Glass and Leone Industries, denies this.

Ardagh had suggested the sale of six former Anchor Glass plants together with the former Anchor headquarters and infrastructure at Tampa, Florida in order for the Verallia North America deal to go through.

Ardagh announced the deal to buy Verallia in January last year. A total of $1.5bn in bonds was then raised to finance the acquisition, which will now be repaid in full on January 17.

Greg Morris

Glass International Editor

Greg Morris has been editor of Glass International and organiser of the Glassman conferences since 2012, specialising in glass packaging. Prior to this he spent five years working in newspaper journalism.