Irish financier Paul Coulson has agreed to cede entire control of Ardagh Group, the glass bottles and drink cans giant he built up over the past 25 years, to a group of its bondholders in exchange for a share of a $300 million (€257 million) pay-off, the Irish Times reported. The company at the top of Ardagh Group corporate tree has an estimated $12.5 billion of debt, which became unsustainable after its earnings were hit since the Covid-19 pandemic by inflation, soaring interest rates, and soft consumer demand on both sides of the Atlantic.

Ireland’s economy contracted in the three months through June following a first-quarter surge, and faces an uncertain future as U.S. tariffs rise, while the government plans to ramp up its investment spending, the Wall Street Journal reported. A surge in exports of pharmaceuticals to the U.S. led Ireland to far outstrip the growth rates of other rich economies in the three months through March, with gross domestic product expanding by 7.4%, the equivalent of an annualized rate of 33%. By contrast, the U.S. economy contracted over the same period.

A liquidator has been appointed over Killarney Brewing and Distilling (KBD) company in another blow to the Irish drinks sector, the Irish Times reported. James Anderson of Deloitte was appointed as the liquidator by the High Court on Monday. The move came after a disagreement between the Revenue Commissioners and the KBD about who would be appointed. KBD had sought for Mr Anderson, who was already the existing examiner for the business to be appointed as the liquidator over the company in a High Court hearing on Friday.

Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said U.S. pharmaceutical tariffs would cost the economy thousands of jobs and that his focus is on maintaining competitiveness to protect the country’s long-term success, Bloomberg News reported. Ireland is running a strong fiscal position with a huge budget surplus thanks to corporate tax income from US multinationals such as Apple Inc. and Pfizer Inc. Speaking on Monday at Bloomberg’s Future of Finance in Ireland event in Dublin, Donohoe said that the government must use that surplus with an eye on the longer term.

Joint provisional liquidators have been appointed by the Irish High Court to Dublin company Frank&Bear Limited, stated to be involved in a number of significant digital marketing campaigns in Ireland, the UK, Europe and the United States, the Irish Times reported. Barrister Eoin Coffey told Mr Justice David Holland that the company, which employs 12 people, was unable to meet its debts and that two of its three directors were engaged in promoting a petition through the courts for the winding up of the firm.

Institutional investment in residential real estate in Ireland fell by 80 per cent in 2023 and 2024, according to the Central Bank, the Irish Times reported. “Inward capital flows and equity financing for new residential development have fallen markedly,” the bank’s director of financial stability Mark Cassidy said at the launch of the regulator’s latest Financial Stability Review. Changes to the global financial system from higher interest rates and increased uncertainty were of particular concern to the residential rental sector here, he said.

Ireland’s manufacturing output fell sharply in April, a new sign that the eurozone economy is slowing after a strong start to the year as U.S. businesses stockpiled goods ahead of expected tariff increases, the Wall Street Journal reported. Factory production was 13.7% lower than in March, with the decline concentrated in what the Irish statistics agency calls the “modern” sector, which is largely comprised of the local operations of U.S. technology and pharmaceutical businesses.

Ireland’s manufacturing output fell sharply in April, a new sign that the eurozone economy is slowing after a strong start to the year as U.S. businesses stockpiled goods ahead of expected tariff increases, the Wall Street Journal reported. Factory production was 13.7% lower than in March, with the decline concentrated in what the Irish statistics agency calls the “modern” sector, which is largely comprised of the local operations of U.S. technology and pharmaceutical businesses.

Ardagh Group’s debt restructuring talks to a group of bondholders has broken down amid a standoff over how much Paul Coulson, the packaging giant’s leading shareholder, will continue to own in its improving drink cans business, the Irish Times reported. The heavily-indebted business proposed in March that a group of senior unsecured bondholders write off much of the $2.32 billion (€2.05 billion) they are owed in exchange for taking full ownership of the glass containers part of the business.