Irish glass packaging group Ardagh Plc said it had applied to the Irish Stock Exchange to list 8.47m shares of 25 Irish pence each to fund the purchase of UK group Rockware. Ardagh, which recently had its shareholders approve the UK£240m purchase of Rockware from US group Owens Illinois, said in a statement that the issue would bring the total number of ordinary shares to 36.43m. Ardagh is buying Rockware from US group Owens-Illinois, which bought the British company in 1998 as part of BTR Plc's packaging businesses. However, Owens-Illinois already owned United Glass, which holds a major share of the UK glass container market, and agreed with the EU to sell Rockware. Ardagh said Rockware was an attractive proposition, having benefited from a technology agreement with Owens, giving it access to the latest developments in glass packaging product manufacture.
