[Cans] Ball Corp To Sell Plants In Europe To Finalise Rexam Deal

According to recent reports, Ball Corporation may be ready to sell 11 of its European plants to enable EU anti-trust regulators to approve its £4BN acquisition of Rexam plc. In February 2015, Ball Corporation and Rexam PLC jointly announced the terms of a recommended offer by Ball to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Rexam in a cash and stock transaction. Reports suggest that the US-based can maker has indicated it is willing to sell over US$ 1.5BN worth of assets, and could offer to divest factories in the UK, France, Austria, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. Analysts estimate that the merged company would have around 70% of the EU beverage can market and 60% of the North American market.