Dawning of a new era
This morning I heard a song on the radio from The Specials – (Dawning of A) New Era and this was rather apt for the week we have had in the industry. We finally learnt the news that Ball has finally completed the acquisition of Rexam for the princely sum of $6.1 billion.
This deal includes acquiring $2.4 billion of net debt, comfortably making Ball the largest can manufacturer worldwide. The sale has also ensured that to satisfy the various competition commissioners across the globe, Ball has divested parts of the business to Ardagh Group.
The move certainly makes sense in theory for Ardagh as they know the two-piece technology well and because some of the plants that Ardagh will be receiving from Ball were in the possession of Ardagh’s predecessors, namely Schamlbach and Thommasen & Drijver. It’ll be interesting to see how Ball and Ardagh adjust to this new dawn in can making…
The question as to whether such a large market share is good for the industry is another matter however. I’d be interested to hear your views…
We are just putting our finishing touches to the July/August issue, so don’t wait too long if you have any new innovations of news articles you would like to see included. From there on, we’ll be turning our attention to our ‘Supplier Profile’ issue.
As you can tell, I’ve suddenly gone very quiet about Euro 2016. It’s funny that! Having said that, all is not lost, as I am still cheering on Portugal in the work’s sweepstake. Let’s hope Ronaldo stops sulking and delivers…
A belated Happy 4 July to our US readers.
