By Colin Kellaher
Shares of Ball Corp. rose more than 5% in premarket trading Thursday after the maker of aluminum packaging struck a deal to sell its aerospace business to BAE Systems for $5.6 billion in cash.
Ball said it plans to use roughly half of the $4.5 billion in net proceeds from the sale, along with free cash flow generated from its packaging operations, to pare its debt load, positioning the Westminster, Colo., company to accelerate returns to shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends.
Ball said it expects to complete the sale of the aerospace business, which accounted for around 14% of its $7 billion in revenue in the first six months of 2023, during the first half of 2024.
Ball shares, which closed Wednesday at $54.51, were recently up 5.1% to $57.30 in premarket trading.
Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com
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