Ball Corporation announced today that it has agreed to acquire Guangdong Jianlibao Group Co., Ltd.'s 65 percent interest in a joint venture metal beverage can and end plant in Sanshui, China. Ball has owned 35 percent of the joint venture plant since 1992.

Ball will acquire the plant and related assets for approximately $90 million in cash and assumed debt. The company also entered into a long-term supply agreement with Jianlibao. The transaction is expected to close next year, subject to customary regulatory approvals.

"The Sanshui facility is a large, efficient manufacturing plant located in southern China, where we continue to see increasing demand for beverage cans," said R. David Hoover, Ball's chairman, president and chief executive officer. "We are very familiar with the plant and its customers, and this investment allows us greater flexibility to serve the growing Chinese market at a significantly lower cost than building a new facility and without adding additional capacity."