PACKAGING giant Ardagh has bought a north American glass container manufacturer in a deal believed to be worth over €170 million. The Paul Coulson-led Ardagh, Europe’s biggest metal and glass packaging business, said yesterday it had agreed to buy Leone Industries from owners, the Leone family.

The company is based in Bridgetown, New Jersey, and manufactures glass containers – bottles and jars – for the food and drinks industry and has markets in the US, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Dublin-based Ardagh did not reveal the price it has agreed to pay for the US company but it is believed to be around $230 million (€172 million).

Leone Industries produces and sells around 500 million containers a year. It will increase Ardagh’s glass business by 10 per cent.

Commenting on the deal, Ardagh chief executive Niall Wall said it would aid the group in expanding its activities into the US. “It is an important step in developing our international glass franchise and will add scale and value to our business,” Mr Wall added in a statement.

This is the second purchase of a rival announced by Ardagh this year. Earlier this month, it completed an €85 million take over of Boxal, the European division of Exal. Boxal manufactures aluminium bottles, used mainly for drinks, and aerosols for perfumes and cosmetics.

Ardagh flagged the fact it was in talks with three companies at the beginning of the year. It has delivered on two of those transactions; it is understood the third deal did not go ahead.

The company said last week it was planning to build a new, low-cost glass manufacturing facility in the Republic.

Ardagh did express interest in buying the Quinn group’s glass container manufacturing operations, but executives told analysts in a conference call last week that it did not make head way with that approach. As a result, it is now looking at proposals to build a new manufacturing plant in the Republic.