Ardagh Group said on Monday, 19 October, that it had signed the sale of its entire stake of about 42% in Trivium Packaging. The buyers are Connecticut-based Silgan Holdings and funds tied to American Industrial Partners, after the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, the majority holder, put its stake on the table too. The enterprise value is about $3.4bn. This is not cash received: closing is expected in mid-2027, subject to regulatory approvals, works-council consultation and other customary conditions.

Ardagh estimates net proceeds of about $90m. The money, the statement says, would go to reinvestment or to cutting debt. It is not in the account today. Executive chairman Mark Porto called Trivium a non-core investment and spoke of a simpler structure. That is the company’s wording, not an audit.

Trivium makes metal packaging — cans, aerosols — for food, pet food, nutrition and beauty. In 2025 it had $3bn of revenue, again according to the statement. Silgan said separately that it is combining Trivium with its own metal-container and closures units, in a vehicle of which it would keep 60%. That is the buyer’s announced structure, not Ardagh’s settlement.

The Irish Times sets the sale in the sequence after last year’s debt restructuring, when creditors owed $4.2bn took control from Paul Coulson. Legacy equity holders, led by Coulson, were paid $300m to walk away. The group is registered in Luxembourg; last year’s sales, excluding Trivium, about $9.6bn. Net debt at the end of June: $8.89bn, the paper writes.

Last week a Luxembourg court gave the go-ahead for a plan to sell the 76% stake in Ardagh Metal Packaging, the drinks-can unit listed in New York. That is another file, another asset. Talk of selling the African glass business remains, the Irish Times says, at an early-stage conversation. It is not Trivium.

Monday’s closed fact is the signing of the agreement on the 42%. The rest — the approvals, 2027, the $90m — is expectation. The headline “will sell” is an intention; the company’s text is “we have entered into the agreement”.

Image: Ardagh Glass, Irvine, North Ayrshire, 20 May 2019, Mark S, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The glass plant, not Trivium’s can line and not a cheque.

Sources consulted: Ardagh’s new owners to sell food-cans joint venture — The Irish Times; Ardagh Group Announces Sale of Trivium Packaging — Ardagh Group.