BROOMFIELD, Colo., Aug. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Ball
Corporation (NYSE: BLL) today announced that it has closed on a
purchase agreement with The Prudential Insurance Company of America
for a group annuity contract that will transfer payment
responsibility liabilities for retirement pension benefits owed to
approximately 11,000 Ball and Rexam retirees in the U.S.
Starting November 2017, Prudential
will begin making benefits payments and providing administrative
services to the affected retirees. Though the payer name will
change, retirees will receive the same monthly benefit they have
been receiving from Ball and will receive more detailed information
on the change via mail within the coming weeks. By selling these
obligations to Prudential, Ball will reduce its projected pension
benefit obligation by approximately $220
million.
"With this change, Ball is lowering the cost and effectively
managing the risk associated with its U.S. pension plans, as well
as streamlining their administration," said Scott C. Morrison, senior vice president and
chief financial officer.
Ball expects to incur a non-cash, non-comparable settlement
charge of approximately $40 million
in the third quarter. This action does not change the company's
previously stated pension funding plans, comparable free cash flow
or comparable earnings targets. The agreements do not impact any
benefits provided to current employees.
Willis Towers Watson served as
strategic advisor to Ball Corporation in this transaction.
About Ball Corporation
Ball Corporation supplies innovative, sustainable packaging
solutions for beverage, food and household products customers, as
well as aerospace and other technologies and services primarily for
the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ
18,450 people worldwide and 2016 net sales were $9.1 billion. For more information, visit
www.ball.com, or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter.
About Prudential
Prudential Retirement delivers retirement plan services and
solutions for public, private and non-profit organizations.
Prudential Retirement is a business unit of The Prudential
Insurance Company of America (PICA), Newark, NJ, a Prudential Financial company.
Prudential Financial, Inc. is one of the world's largest financial
institutions with $1.30 trillion in
assets under management as of March 31,
2017. With more than 90 years of retirement experience,
Prudential Retirement helps meet the needs of 4 million
participants and annuitants, and has $395.5
billion in retirement assets as of March 31, 2017. Each year they pay more than
$9 billion in gross pension benefit
payments to annuitants. For more information, please visit
www.prudential.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains "forward-looking" statements concerning
future events and financial performance. Words such as "expects,"
"anticipates," "estimates," "believes," "targets," "likely" and
similar expressions typically identify forward-looking statements,
which are generally any statements other than statements of
historical fact. Such statements are based on current expectations
or views of the future and are subject to risks and uncertainties,
which could cause actual results or events to differ materially
from those expressed or implied. You should therefore not place
undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements and any of such
statements should be read in conjunction with, and, qualified in
their entirety by, the cautionary statements referenced below. The
company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise. Key factors, risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual outcomes and results to be different are
summarized in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including Exhibit 99 in our Form 10-K, which are available on our
website and at www.sec.gov. Additional factors that might affect:
a) our packaging segments include product demand fluctuations;
availability/cost of raw materials; competitive packaging, pricing
and substitution; changes in climate and weather; competitive
activity; failure to achieve synergies, productivity improvements
or cost reductions; mandatory deposit or other restrictive
packaging laws; customer and supplier consolidation, power and
supply chain influence; changes in major customer or supplier
contracts or a loss of a major customer or supplier; political
instability and sanctions; currency controls; and changes in
foreign exchange or tax rates; b) our aerospace segment include
funding, authorization, availability and returns of government and
commercial contracts; and delays, extensions and technical
uncertainties affecting segment contracts; c) the company as a
whole include those listed plus: changes in senior management;
regulatory action or issues including tax, environmental, health
and workplace safety, including U.S. FDA and other actions or
public concerns affecting products filled in our containers, or
chemicals or substances used in raw materials or in the
manufacturing process; technological developments and innovations;
litigation; strikes; labor cost changes; rates of return on assets
of the company's defined benefit retirement plans; pension changes;
uncertainties surrounding geopolitical events and governmental
policies both in the U.S. and in other countries, including the
U.S. government elections, budget, sequestration and debt limit;
reduced cash flow; ability to achieve cost-out initiatives and
synergies; interest rates affecting our debt; and successful or
unsuccessful acquisitions and divestitures, including with respect
to the Rexam PLC acquisition and its integration, or the associated
divestiture; the effect of the acquisition or the divestiture on
our business relationships, operating results and business
generally.
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SOURCE Ball Corporation