Breaking former quinn glass plant sold to spanish company

Aventas Manufacturing Group Limited has today announced that, following a comprehensive sale process which attracted very considerable interest, former Quinn Glass, rebranded Encirc Ltd has been sold to Spanish bidder Vidrala.

The Spanish container glass manufacturing company with extensive glass packaging businesses in Europe sealed the deal for a purchase price of over €400m.

The transaction, which involves Encirc’s glass manufacturing plants on the Cavan-Fermanagh border and Elton, as well as the filling operation at Elton has been completed for a total consideration of €408.6m.

Commenting on the transaction, Paul O’Brien, Aventas CEO said: “We are pleased to have completed the sale to Vidrala, a company with the ability and expertise to continue to invest in Encirc which has acquired an international reputation for both product quality and service excellence”.

The sale of the glass company, which employs over 900 people in total, 440 of which are local based locally, comes despite late local interest, which was most recently vocalised at a well-attended public meeting held in Ballyconnell.

Up to 1,000 local people, and workers of former Sean Quinn-owned industries attended the meeting at Ballyconnell Community Centre where border businessman, Martin Maguire, Secretary of Quinn Glass Retention Company, the firm behind the local interest told those gathered that the Spanish bid 'must be resisted.'

The meeting had ended with a proposal adopted by organisers to speak with Quinn Business Retention Company (not related) with a view to exploring all possibilities and opportunities of forming a viable local bid for the business.

The meeting, The Anglo-Celt will now take place on tomorrow, Thursday, January 15.

Vidrala have plants predominantly in Spain and along the Mediterranean, and the former Quinn Glass buyout is their first foothold in the Irish and UK marketplace.

Aventas Group had previously issued a statement to the public stating that Vidrala considered the purchase of Encirc as an important acquisition for them.

'Their stated intention is for Encirc to remain as a separate standalone subsidiary retaining its identity and autonomy. They see the current management team led by Adrian Curry as vital to a successful future for the business. This is the same team that built the glass business in Derrylin and Elton from a standing start.'

The Aventas statement added: 'From the outset of this sale process we set a very high priority on achieving a positive outcome for employees and local communities at the same time as achieving value for the business owners and investors. From any objective standpoint, where the interests of employees and local communities are concerned, the preferred bidder is uniquely well placed to deliver on this priority.'