Irish-owned packaging group Ardagh’s decision to pull out of the race for St Gobain’s bottle and jar manufacturing division is good for its creditworthiness, according to ratings agency, Moody’s. Ardagh was vying with a number of private equity giants to buy St Gobain’s European glass-making unit, Verallia, which is on the market for a reported €3 billion. However, the group, controlled by Irish financier, Paul Coulson said recently that it is withdrawing from the race. At the same time it is considering floating its metals division. Moody’s, which assesses companies’ abilities to pay their debts, says in a note issued on Friday that the announcements are credit positive because they meant that Ardagh will not be seeking to borrow more money and they could result in it cutting its €5.2 billion net liabilities.
