BAE Systems buys Ball Corp's aerospace division for about $5.55 billion

In July, Reuters reported that private equity firms Blackstone Inc and Veritas Capital Fund Management were competing with defense companies such as BAE, General Dynamics Corp and Textron to buy Ball Corp's business.

Ball Corp, the world's largest supplier of beer cans, said it will use the proceeds to reduce $9.7 billion in debt, return cash to shareholders and accelerate the organic growth of its global packaging operations.

BAE, Britain's largest defense company, plans to raise new debt and use cash to buy Ball's aerospace operations, which build spacecraft, instruments and sensors used to monitor weather and climate change, among other things.

BAE benefited from increased military spending. This month, the company raised its earnings forecast for 2023, saying that increased global uncertainty has sent military equipment orders to record highs.

“Rarely is a business of this quality, scale and added value available, with strong growth prospects and close alignment with our strategy,” said BAE CEO Charles Woodburn.

"The strategic and financial case is compelling as we continue to focus on areas of high priority for defense and intelligence spending."

Ball's aerospace business in Colorado, which supplies aerospace and national defense equipment such as sensors and antennas, generated $1.98 billion in revenue and accounted for 13% of Ball's consolidated net sales in 2022.