Ardagh gets green light for takeover

Brussels: Irish bottle and packaging maker Ardagh Glass Group secured EU regulatory approval yesterday for its €1.7 billion takeover of Dutch metal packaging company Impress Co-operative.

Private equity firm Doughty Hanson & Co, which is selling Impress, has said it will return €688m from the sale to investors in two of its funds.

The European Commission, the EU’s competition watchdog, said the takeover deal would allow Ardagh to diversify its product range, with no current overlaps between the two firms.

“The Commission also investigated the effects of Ardagh’s enlarged product range and concluded that anti-competitive conglomerate effects would be unlikely, because of the presence of alternative and competing sources of supply for both glass packaging and metal cans,” it said in a statement.