Ardagh buys up Italian can maker Fi Par

Fi Par (Finanziaria di Partecipazioni Industriali) is an Italian company that manufactures food cans and aerosols in Italy and Greece. It had sales revenue of around €150m in 2010 and employs 440 people.

Italian focus ​

For Ardagh, acquiring Fi Par reinforces its position in the metal packaging business and deepens its presence in Italy.

“Annual group sales in Italy including glass and metal will now be substantially increased, making this one of our key geographies and further strengthening our presence in Southern Europe,”​ said Niall Wall, CEO of Ardagh.

Fi Par has four manufacturing sites in Italy and one in Italy. Acquiring the company would increase the number of Italian factories in the Ardagh group to 10. The Irish business already has one glass packaging factory in Italy and added five metal can facilities when it acquired Impress last year.

Financing ​

Ardagh is not seeking additional financing for the Fi Par acquisition. Mooting the prospect of bolt-on acquisitions, the company made a €200m bond issue in February that will fund the deal.

Ardagh has grown 70 times in size since 1998 and five times in size since 2006 and now has annual sales of more than €3.2bn. It made one of its biggest M&A moves last year, buying Impress for €1.7bn – a deal funded with a bond issue of the same amount.

The acquisition took Ardagh, which had already grown to become the third biggest glass packaging manufacturer in Europe, into the metal can business. It also gave Ardagh a presence in major new markets such as South America, Australasia and China.