Niall Wall, Ardagh CEO, told FoodProductionDaily.com that while Ardagh had a strong hold in Europe, it was a mature market where there were limited growth opportunities. The CEO explained that by acquiring Impress, Ardagh will give the company a presence in major new markets such as South America, Australasia and China. The Euros 1.7bn deal between global metal packaging group Impress & Ardagh Glass was signed 6 December after gaining approval from both EU & US regulatory authorities. The enlarged & diversified global packaging business will be known as Ardagh Group. The combined business will operate 81 facilities & hold either number 1 or number 2 positions in nearly all its served markets across 24 countries. The group will employ approximately 14,000 people & have annual revenues of over Euros 3bn. In terms of rationalisation, although Wall didn't rule out the possibility of job cuts or closures, he maintained that anything that did happen would be at the margins. Rationalisation is not the synergy for this acquisition, but we will continue to be competitive, he said.
