Ardagh considers selling off metal packaging business after restructuring

Dive Brief:

• Ardagh Metal Packaging, which is operated by Ardagh Group, may go up for sale. Parent company Ardagh Holdings disclosed in filings Thursday that “its board of directors has instructed its advisers to prepare for a potential sale of Ardagh Metal Packaging.” Any further steps will require Ardagh Holdings board approval.
• Ardagh Holdings explained that under the contemplated process, it would sell some or all of its equity interests indirectly held in Ardagh Metal Packaging to a third-party buyer. This could also involve Ardagh Holdings acquiring shares held by outside equity interests in order to faciliate a full sale of the business.
• Over half of AMP’s business is now in specialty cans, with energy drinks a strong point. In the most recent quarter, beverage can sales and global volumes were down 1% year over year. Through the first half of 2026, revenue totaled about $3.2 billion.

Dive Insight:

Ardagh Metal Packaging just marked 10 years in business. It was born from assets divested by Ball to Ardagh when Ball was acquiring Rexam.

Offloading Ardagh Metal Packaging would mark another big shift for Ardagh after months of change. Ardagh Group completed a recapitalization last November. The recent overhaul included founder Paul Coulson stepping down and Mark Porto becoming executive chairman.

Regarding a potential sale of Ardagh Metal Packaging, RBC Capital Markets analysts believe there could be “several interested parties.”

“We believe this sale process does not reflect concern with [AMP’s] underlying performance; rather we believe [Ardagh Holdings] is shedding assets to further reduce its leverage and looking to monetize its stake in [AMP] given recent beats and a positive multi-year [beverage] can outlook,” they wrote in a note to investors Thursday.

AMP shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange. Its market capitalization is currently around $3.1 billion.

Other recent deals in the metal packaging space include Sonoco’s $3.8 billion acquisition of Eviosys, a business that originated from assets once owned by Crown Holdings, and Ball’s acquisition of a majority stake in Benepack worth more than $215 million.

Metal packaging currently makes up over half of Ardagh Group’s business. According to Ardagh Group’s 2025 annual report, the company indirectly held approximately 76% of Ardagh Metal Packaging shares. Ardagh Holdings reports that Ardagh Metal Packaging operated 23 production facilities across nine countries, with 6,500 people. Sales totaled $5.5 billion in 2025.

Separately, Ardagh Group also owns a 42% stake in metal packaging specialist Trivium. 

The rest of Ardagh’s business is in glass packaging, which constituted about $4.1 billion in sales in 2025. The company launched its commercial and operational improvement ‘Clearly Ardagh’ strategy this year to move forward in a market that has seen significant volume declines.