Ball announced Wednesday it completed its partial sale of ownership in Ball United Arab Can Manufacturing Co., its consolidated joint venture in Saudi Arabia, reducing its stake to 10%. The company reached that agreement in November 2024, and previewed it in a filing early this year.
Ball sold 41% of its 51% ownership interest to a subsidiary of ORG Technology Co., a Beijing-based packaging solutions provider, for approximately $70 million, subject to customary closing adjustments.
In an Aug. 5 quarterly securities filing, the company had said it expected to gain approximately $85 million upon deal close. As of June 30, assets totaled $91 million and liabilities were $25 million.
“This transaction deepens the multi-year relationship with ORG and combines Ball's global can innovation and customer reach with ORG's regional execution and manufacturing scale,” Ball said in a news release.
“Today's announcement reflects our continued focus on a disciplined, returns‑oriented portfolio," said CEO Dan Fisher. “We are pleased to deepen our relationship with ORG and look forward to collaborating to better serve customers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and across the broader Middle East.”
Ball has history with ORG. In 2018, Ball announced an agreement to sell its metal beverage packaging facilities in China to ORG.
Rexam, which Ball acquired in 2016 for $6.1 billion, bought a 51% stake in UACM in 2014 for $122 million, which Reuters reported at the time was part of the company’s strategy to expand in emerging markets, serving customers such as Coca-Cola.
In other joint venture activity this year, Ball in March formed a joint venture with Ayna.AI to reallocate the packaging company’s aluminum cups business. Ball became the minority investor in the 49-51 joint venture, dubbed Oasis Venture Holdings. Like the Saudi Arabia business, Ball’s aluminum cups business fell in the non-reportable operating segment.
