Ball Corporation Announces Agreement to Acquire North American Plastic Bottle Container Assets of Alcan Packaging
February 27 2006 - 8:30AM
PR Newswire (US)
BROOMFIELD, Colo., Feb. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ball
Corporation (NYSE:BLL) announced today that it has agreed to
acquire certain North American plastic bottle container assets of
Alcan Packaging for $180 million in cash. The transaction is
expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2006, subject
to certain government approvals and customary closing conditions.
Ball will acquire three Alcan plastic container manufacturing
plants, in Batavia, Ill.; Bellevue, Ohio; and Brampton, Ontario.
Ball will also acquire certain equipment and other assets at
Alcan's Newark, Calif., plant and at its Neenah, Wisc., research
facility and will continue to operate at those locations during
2006. The business being sold by Alcan Packaging is a leading
producer of barrier polypropylene plastic bottles in the United
States, largely for foods. The business also manufactures barrier
polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottles. It currently
employs approximately 470 people. "This acquisition enables Ball to
supply a broad range of blue chip customers, some of whom are new
to us and some of whom know Ball well through our metal food
container operations. In addition, these manufacturing plants
complement our existing plastic container operations and offer some
significant technology opportunities," said R. David Hoover, the
company's chairman, president and chief executive officer. Ball
Corporation is a supplier of high-quality metal and plastic
packaging products and owns Ball Aerospace & Technologies
Corp., which develops sensors, spacecraft, systems and components
for government and commercial customers. Ball reported 2005 sales
of $5.7 billion and the company employs 13,100 people worldwide.
Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains
"forward-looking" statements concerning future events and financial
performance. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "estimates,"
and variations of same and similar expressions are intended to
identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to
risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ
materially from those expressed or implied. 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 risks and uncertainties are summarized in filings
with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in Exhibit
99.2 in our Form 10-K. These filings are available at our Web site
and at http://www.sec.gov/. Factors that might affect our packaging
segments include fluctuation in consumer and customer demand and
preferences; availability and cost of raw materials, including
recent significant increases in resin, steel, aluminum and energy
costs, and the ability to pass such increases on to customers;
competitive packaging availability, pricing and substitution;
changes in climate and weather; fruit, vegetable and fishing
yields; industry productive capacity and competitive activity;
failure to achieve anticipated productivity improvements or
production cost reductions, including those associated with our
beverage can end project; the German mandatory deposit or other
restrictive packaging laws; changes in major customer or supplier
contracts or loss of a major customer or supplier; changes in
foreign exchange rates, tax rates and activities of foreign
subsidiaries; and the effect of LIFO accounting. Factors that might
affect our aerospace segment include: funding, authorization,
availability and returns of government contracts; and delays,
extensions and technical uncertainties affecting segment contracts.
Factors that might affect the company as a whole include those
listed plus: acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures;
regulatory action or laws including tax, environmental and
workplace safety; governmental investigations; technological
developments and innovations; goodwill impairment; antitrust,
patent and other litigation; strikes; labor cost changes; rates of
return projected and earned on assets of the company's defined
benefit retirement plans; reduced cash flow; interest rates
affecting our debt; and changes to unaudited results due to
statutory audits or other effects. DATASOURCE: Ball Corporation
CONTACT: Investors, Ann T. Scott, +1-303-460-3537, , or Media,
Scott McCarty, +1-303-460-2103, , both of Ball Corporation Web
site: http://www.ball.com/
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