Ball sells aluminum cup biz to newly formed joint venture

WESTMINSTER — Ball Corp. (NYSE:BLL) closed on a deal last week to offload its recyclable aluminum cup business unit to a newly formed business venture involving the Colorado canning giant — the minority partner — and California-based industrial technology firm Ayna.ai LLC.

Ayna holds 51% of the joint venture, dubbed Oasis Venture Holdings LLC, and Ball owns the remainder.

Oasis “will consist of the Aluminum Cup business, including its commercial, supply chain and manufacturing teams and the plant in Rome, Georgia, which will serve as the venture’s new headquarters,” said Ball, which debuted its recyclable aluminum cup product in 2019 at the University of Colorado football team’s home opener against the University of Nebraska.

Ball spent seven years developing the new cups, which are designed to be more environmentally friendly than the traditional plastic cups typically used at stadiums. The company opened a manufacturing plant in Georgia dedicated to production of the aluminum cups in late 2019. Initially only available at events, including the Super Bowl, Ball’s aluminum cups hit store shelves in mid-2021.

“In 2019, Ball made a strategic decision to expand the company’s offering by adding the Aluminum Cup to our portfolio, allowing Ball to create a new category for aluminum packaging,” Jay Billings, Ball’s senior vice president for growth ventures, said in a prepared statement. “We believe that partnering with Ayna, with its deep expertise and experience in this space, is the natural next step in our transformation as we continue to bring best-in-class innovative products to our customers. They bring proven expertise in executing joint ventures of this scale, offering essential operational know-how and strategic partnerships to ensure the success of this venture. The team has been working diligently to start up this business and position it to meet the need for more sustainable packaging choices, and we’re excited about the many opportunities ahead.”

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Ball said last week that the “change will not impact current orders, and Ball is committed to making this a smooth transition and maintaining continuity of supply for its valued customer base.”

Investors have reacted tepidly to Ball’s cup news. The company’s stock fell Friday and in early trading Monday. As of 9:20 a.m. Monday, Ball’s stock was trading at $50.09, down 3.77% over the past five days. 

The cup business sale is the second time in the past year or so that Ball has offloaded one of its major divisions. The company sold Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. for $5.6 billion in February 2024 to BAE Systems Inc. Space & Mission Systems, the Broomfield-based subsidiary of British defense contractor BAE Systems PLC.

By selling the aerospace division, Ball intended to focus on its core aluminum business, company leaders said when the deal was announced in summer 2023.

Ball CEO Daniel Fisher told investors in August 2023 that “Ball, going forward, will be a pure-play aluminum packing leader,” adding that “aerospace is not a hugely cash-generative business.”

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