Flotation of Ardagh could be big day for The Cooler

If every thing goes to plan, Paul Coulson, who controls around 60 per cent of multinational packaging behemoth Ardagh, could be sitting on a paper fortune worth billions

Paul Coulson, chairman of Ardagh Group Picture: Jason Clarke

In September of last year, Paul Coulson stood before the Irish Institute of Directors and gave the audience a potted history of Ardagh. The glass bottle and tin can maker – which was then on its way to making €8 billion a year in revenue – had “happened by chance”, he said.

“I wish I could say this was all part of a grand scheme to build a global packaging group. In fact, ...