Ball Corporation Announces Stock Repurchase Transactions
December 12 2007 - 6:26PM
PR Newswire (US)
BROOMFIELD, Colo., Dec. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ball
Corporation [NYSE: BLL] announced today that it has agreed to
repurchase approximately $100 million of its outstanding common
stock in a privately negotiated accelerated stock repurchase
transaction with Goldman Sachs & Co. using cash on hand and
available borrowings. Subject to certain conditions, the
transaction is expected to commence in early January 2008 and to
reduce Ball's outstanding common stock by approximately two million
shares. The shares are subject to a market price adjustment
provision which may require a payment to be made by Ball, or to
Ball, based generally on the volume weighted average trading price
of the company's shares over an agreed upon period of time. In
addition, Ball recently entered into a common share forward
purchase agreement for $30 million. The forward purchase is
expected to settle in early January. Ball Corporation is a supplier
of high-quality metal and plastic packaging products for beverage,
food and household products customers, and of aerospace and other
technologies and services, primarily for the U.S. government. Ball
Corporation and its subsidiaries employ more than 15,500 people
worldwide and reported 2006 sales of $6.6 billion. Forward-Looking
Statements This release contains "forward-looking" statements
concerning future events and financial performance. Words such as
"expects," "anticipates," "estimates" 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 Exhibit 99.2 in our Form 10-K, which are available at our
Web site and at http://www.sec.gov/. Factors that might affect our
packaging segments include fluctuation in product 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; crop yields; competitive activity;
failure to achieve anticipated productivity improvements or
production cost reductions, including our beverage can end project;
mandatory deposit or other restrictive packaging laws; changes in
major customer or supplier contracts or loss of a major customer or
supplier; and changes in foreign exchange rates, tax rates and
activities of foreign subsidiaries. Factors that might affect our
aerospace segment include: funding, authorization, availability and
returns of government and commercial contracts; and delays,
extensions and technical uncertainties affecting segment contracts.
Factors that might affect the company as a whole include those
listed plus: accounting changes; successful or unsuccessful
acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures; integration of
recently acquired businesses; 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;
pension changes; 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 Coporation Web site:
http://www.ball.com/
Copyright