Ardagh Group has been ordered by a US jury to pay $50.3 million (€46.2 million) to a company which claimed the recently floated company's US glass containers unit infringed a patent over technology to turn mixed colour glass into recycled glass of a single colour.
After the decision of a federal jury in Delaware in favour of the patent holder, Green Mountain, became public late on Monday, Ardagh said that it would appeal the case. However, it added that it was covered by an indemnity against the financial fallout from the former owners of the US glass bottle business.
“Ardagh disagrees with the decision of the jury, both as to liability and quantum of the damages and strongly believes that the Green Mountain case is without merit,” Ardagh said. “Ardagh will vigorously pursue all options, including appeal.”
Legal complaint
Ardagh completed the purchase of the US glass business at the centre of the case, Verallia North America, in April 2014, less than two weeks after Green Mountain lodged its legal complaint in the US, according to court documents.
The group, headed by Irish financier Paul Coulson, acquired the business for $1.7 billion from French industrial giant Saint-Gobain, more than 15 months after the deal was first announced. The delay was mainly down to a US competition investigation into the transaction, which resulted in Ardagh agreeing to sell six of its existing manufacturing plants in the US.
Ardagh raised more than $300 million last month in an initial public offering that saw the group list on the New York Stock Exchange. The company currently has a market capitalisation of $5 billion.
