FTC Approves Final Order Preserving Competition for Customers of Aluminum Beverage Cans

Following a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission has approved a final order settling charges that Ball Corporation’s proposed $8.4 billion acquisition of Rexam PLC would likely be anticompetitive.

Under the order, first announced in June 2016, the companies are required to divest eight aluminum can plants and related assets in the United States to Ardagh, one of the world’s largest producers of glass bottles for the beverage industry and metal cans for the food industry. Ardagh also will acquire Rexam’s U.S. headquarters in Chicago, Ill., and Rexam’s U.S. Technical Center in Elk Grove, Ill. The final order incorporates minor revisions to the documents governing the divestiture process.

The Commission vote approving the final order was 3-0. (FTC File No. 151 0088; the staff contact is Michael Lovinger, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2539)

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