New York, August 07, 2025 -- Moody's Ratings (Moody's) assigned a Ba1 rating to Ball Corporation's ("Ball Corp.") senior unsecured notes due 2033. The company's Ba1 corporate family rating (CFR), Ba1-PD probability of default rating (PDR), SGL-2 speculative grade liquidity rating (SGL) and other existing ratings are unchanged. The outlook remains stable.
We expect the proceeds of the proposed USD$750 million debt offering to be used to for general corporate purposes, with a prioritization of repaying outstanding borrowings under its revolving credit facilities.
"Similar to Ball Corp.'s debt issuance in May 2025, we view this transaction as leverage neutral with little impact to the company's credit profile," said Scott Manduca, VP-Senior Analyst at Moody's Ratings.
RATINGS RATIONALE
Ball Corp.'s Ba1 rating continues to benefit from the company's leading position in the consolidated metal can industry, which creates switching costs for its large blue-chip customers. The company has sophisticated innovation abilities that anchor its strong competitive position in the rapidly growing custom can market. Ball Corp.'s supply chain flexibility and scale will help to soften the negative cost impact on margins from tariffs on aluminum prices. In addition, Ball Corp. can limit margin volatility with the pass through mechanisms of cost inflation that are embedded in its customer contracts.
Ball Corp. has taken advantage from stock market volatility and has exercised already around $1 billion of its planned $1.3 billion of share repurchases for 2025 in the first half of the year. We anticipate that Ball Corp. will reduce share repurchases in the second half of the year and not materially exceed the previously communicated target of $1.3 billion. Therefore, we maintain our expectation that leverage will be near our 4.0x debt/EBITDA forecast for 2025 and 2026, respectively, and interest coverage will be above 5.0x EBITDA/interest expense over same period.
The stable outlook reflects our expectations of stable credit metrics, material free cash flow generation and maintenance of good liquidity.
The Ba1 ratings on the senior unsecured notes reflect the subordination to the company's secured facilities and guarantees from only the domestic subsidiaries.
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATING
An upgrade in ratings would require less aggressive financial policies and a migration to an unsecured capital structure. Specifically, the ratings could be upgraded if adjusted debt-to EBITDA is below 3.25x, EBITDA-to-interest expense is greater than 6.5x and retained cash flow to-net debt is above 20%.
The ratings could be downgraded if there is a deterioration in the company's business profile, credit metrics, or liquidity. Specifically, the ratings could be downgraded if adjusted debt-to EBITDA is above 4.25x, EBITDA-to-interest is below 5.5x or retained cash flow-to-net debt falls below 15%.
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Ball Corp announces $750M senior notes offering to refinance debt and fund corporate initiatives. Details on maturity, terms, and use of proceeds. Learn more.
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