Ball Corporation Completes Acquisition of U.S. and Argentinean Operations of U.S. Can Corp.
March 27 2006 - 7:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
BROOMFIELD, Colo., March 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ball
Corporation (NYSE:BLL) today completed its acquisition of the
United States and Argentinean operations of U.S. Can Corporation,
adding to Ball's portfolio of packaging products and making Ball
the largest supplier in the U.S. of aerosol cans, primarily for
food and household products. Ball acquired 10 manufacturing plants
in seven states and two plants in Argentina. The operations have
sales of approximately $600 million, employ 2,300 people and
produce more than two billion steel aerosol containers annually. In
addition to aerosol cans, the acquired operations produce paint
cans, plastic containers and custom and specialty cans. Ball
announced early this month that it had hired can industry veteran
Michael W. Feldser to head up the acquired U.S. Can operations. He
will be president of Ball's aerosol & specialty packaging
division. "We are pleased to have this acquisition closed so the
integration process can begin," said R. David Hoover, president and
chief executive officer. "We have a track record for successful
integration of acquired businesses, and we intend to build on that
record." Today Ball announced that the former U.S. Can headquarters
in a leased building in Lombard, Ill., will be closed. Functions
that had been performed there will be transferred to Ball offices
near Denver, moved to a plant in Elgin, Ill., that is part of the
acquisition or in certain cases eliminated. The number of U.S. Can
employees who will receive employment opportunities with Ball will
be determined in the coming weeks, based upon anticipated needs,
interest in relocation and other factors as the integration process
continues. "We will implement plans to welcome new employees, meet
with customers and suppliers and begin to realize the synergy
savings we are certain exist and to identify others," Hoover said.
"We expect to realize consolidation opportunities in the future as
we fully integrate the people and plants into Ball. Closing the
former headquarters is a first step and should help facilitate the
integration process. We believe this is a business that will
benefit considerably from being a part of a larger packaging
organization, and that our existing packaging businesses will
benefit from having them as part of Ball." Raymond J. Seabrook,
senior vice president and chief financial officer, said the
refinancing of the U.S. Can debt was accomplished at significantly
lower rates through the issue by Ball of a new series of senior
notes and an increase in bank debt under new facilities that were
put in place in the fourth quarter of 2005. Ball Corporation is a
supplier of high-quality metal and plastic packaging products and
owns Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. Ball reported 2005
sales of $5.8 billion. With the addition of the employees from U.S.
Can, Ball employs 15,400 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,
Harold Sohn, +1-303-460-2266, , both of Ball Corporation Web site:
http://www.ball.com/
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