Ball Corporation Announces $125 Million Accelerated Stock Buyback

BROOMFIELD, Colo., Jan. 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ball Corporation announced today that it has agreed to repurchase approximately $125 million of its outstanding common stock in a privately negotiated accelerated stock repurchase transaction with BNP Paribas using cash on hand and available borrowings. The transaction immediately reduces Ball's reported outstanding common stock by three million shares.

The shares are subject to a market price adjustment provision which may require a payment to be made by Ball or to Ball based on the volume weighted average trading price of the company's shares over an agreed upon period of time.

After today's transaction, approximately eight million shares remain under a stock repurchase authorization approved by the company's board of directors in July 2004.

Ball Corporation is a supplier of high-quality metal and plastic packaging products to the beverage and food industries. The company also owns Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., which develops sensors, spacecraft, systems and components for government and commercial markets. Ball employs more than 14,000 people worldwide and reported 2004 sales of $5.4 billion.

Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this news release contains "forward-looking" statements and other statements concerning future events and financial performance. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," and variations of same and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Key risks and uncertainties are summarized in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, especially in Exhibit 99.2 in the most recent Form 10-K. These filings are available at our Web site and at http://www.sec.gov/. Factors that might affect our packaging segments include fluctuation in consumer and customer demand; availability and cost of raw materials, particularly resin, steel, aluminum and energy, and the ability to pass on to customers changes in these costs; competitive packaging material availability, pricing and substitution; changes in climate and weather; fruit, vegetable and fishing yields; industry productive capacity and competitive activity; lack of productivity improvement or production cost reductions; the German mandatory deposit or other restrictive packaging laws; changes in major customer contracts or loss of a major customer; international business risks, including foreign exchange rates, tax rates and activities of foreign subsidiaries; and the effect of LIFO accounting on earnings. Factors that might affect aerospace segment include: funding, authorization and availability of government contracts and the nature and continuation of those contracts; and technical uncertainty associated with segment contracts. Factors that could affect the company as a whole include those listed plus: acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures and associated integration activities; regulatory action or laws including environmental and workplace safety; governmental investigations; goodwill impairment; antitrust and other litigation; strikes; boycotts; increases in employee benefits and labor costs; rates of return projected and earned on assets of the company's defined benefit retirement plans; reduced cash flow; interest rates affecting our debt; and changes to unaudited results due to statutory audits of our financial statements or internal controls over financial reporting.