Ball Corp. raising $2.5B, selling off 11 European plants

BROOMFIELD — Ball Corp. on Monday said it hopes to raise $2.5 billion through the public offering of senior notes to fund the cash portion of its pending acquisition of Rexam PLC.

The Broomfield-based manufacturer of cans also said it would sell 11 of its plants in Europe in order to clinch approval from European Union antitrust regulators for its $6.7 billion purchase of Rexam.

Nine of the plants to be divested make cans, while the other two manufacture can ends. Four factories are located in Germany, three in the United Kingdom and one each in Spain, France, the Netherlands and Austria.

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Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL) will offer senior notes due 2020 and euro-denominated senior notes due 2020 and 2023. The exact terms and timing of the offering will depend upon market conditions and other factors, the company said in a prepared statement.

The Ball Corp. and Rexam union would create the world’s largest consumer packaging supplier, with command over 60 percent of the beverage-can market in North America, 69 percent in Europe and 74 percent in Brazil. The combined company would employ a workforce of about 22,500 employees across five continents and generate annual revenue of about $15 billion.

EU antitrust regulators started an in-depth investigation to assess whether the proposed transaction will reduce competition in the beverage can and aluminum bottle manufacturing industry in the European Economic Area, plus push up prices for both companies and consumers.

Ball also is in discussions with antitrust authorities in the United States regarding assets it may have to divest here.

Goldman, Sachs & Co.; Deutsche Bank Securities; BofA Merrill Lynch; KeyBanc Capital Markets; Mizuho Securities; and Rabobank are acting as joint book-running managers of the offering of senior notes.