Private equity firm Doughty Hanson has signed an agreement to sell Impress Coöperatieve, a consumer metal packaging company, to Ardagh Glass for EUR1.7bn.
Closing of the transaction is subject to competition clearances.
Doughty Hanson’s Private Equity Funds II and III were invested in Impress and the total distribution to investors from this investment will be EUR688m or 2.6x investment cost for each fund.
Impress is the last investment to be sold from Doughty Hanson Fund II which will now be closed with total returns of 2.7x cost and an IRR of 84 per cent.
Only one investment, LM Wind Power, remains in Fund III.
Doughty Hanson originally created Impress in 1997 through the merger of the metal packaging operations of Pechiney and Schmalbach Lubeca. In 2000, Impress acquired Ferembal and the US can-making assets of H.J. Heinz. The group has expanded further through the acquisitions of Alcan Sutton in the UK, US Can’s European operations and Amcor’s can-making facilities in Australia and New Zealand.
Impress now has sales of approximately EUR1.8bn and employs 7,500 people across the world.
John Gemmell, principal at Doughty Hanson, says: “Impress has been a very successful investment for Doughty Hanson and our investors in Funds II and III. The company has grown strongly by acting as a catalyst for consolidation across the metal packaging industry, to become the global market leader. We have enjoyed working closely with the management team to build the success story and wish them luck in the future.”
