Shareholders’ Equity

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Shareholders’ Equity

Shareholders’ Equity

17.  Shareholders’ Equity

At December 31, 2016, the company had 550 million shares of common stock and 15 million shares of preferred stock authorized, both without par value. Preferred stock includes 550,000 authorized but unissued shares designated as Series A Junior Participating Preferred Stock.

The company’s share repurchases, net of issuances, totaled $59 million in 2016, $100 million in 2015 and $360 million in 2014.

In March 2014, in a privately negotiated transaction, Ball entered into an accelerated share repurchase agreement to buy $100 million of its common shares using cash on hand and available borrowings. The company advanced the $100 million on March 7, 2014, and received 1,538,740 shares, which represented 85 percent of the total shares as calculated using the closing price on March 3, 2014. The agreement was settled in June 2014, and the company received an additional 245,196 shares, which represented a weighted average price of $56.06 for the entire contract price.  

Accumulated Other Comprehensive Earnings (Loss)

The activity related to accumulated other comprehensive earnings (loss) was as follows:

($ in millions)	Foreign Currency Translation (Net of Tax)		Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits            (Net of Tax)			Effective Derivatives (Net of Tax)		Accumulated Other Comprehensive Earnings (Loss)
Balance at December 31, 2014	$	(18)	$	(500)		$	(4)	$	(522)
Other comprehensive earnings (loss) before reclassifications		(165)		25			(18)		(158)
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive earnings (loss)		—		30			10		40
Balance at December 31, 2015		(183)		(445)			(12)		(640)
Other comprehensive earnings (loss) before reclassifications		(146)		(227)	(a)		46		(327)
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive earnings (loss)		—		82	(b)		(56)		26
Balance at December 31, 2016	$	(329)	$	(590)		$	(22)	$	(941)

(a) Includes $195 million of after tax net actuarial loss at December 31, 2016, for the remeasurement of acquired plans and $38 million of after tax actuarial loss at June 30, 2016, for the remeasurement of divested plans.

(b) Amount includes $60 million, net of tax, from plans sold with the Divestment Business.

The following table provides additional details of the amounts recognized into net earnings from accumulated other comprehensive earnings (loss):

	Years Ended December 31,
($  in millions)	2016		2015		2014
Gains (losses) on cash flow hedges:
Commodity contracts recorded in net sales	$	(1)	$	5	$	(6)
Commodity contracts recorded in cost of sales		(7)		(23)		(27)
Currency exchange contracts recorded in selling, general and administrative		4		2		—
Cross-currency swaps recorded in selling, general and administrative		64		—		—
Interest rate contracts recorded in interest expense		(1)		—		—
Commodity and currency exchange contracts attributable to the Divestment Business recorded in business consolidation and other activities		(5)		—		—
Total before tax effect		54		(16)		(33)
Tax benefit (expense) on amounts reclassified into earnings		2		6		3
Recognized gain (loss)	$	56	$	(10)	$	(30)
Amortization of pension and other postretirement benefits (a):
Prior service income (cost)	$	2	$	1	$	1
Actuarial gains (losses)		(35)		(48)		(37)
Effect of pension settlement		(80)		—		(45)
Total before tax effect		(113)		(47)		(81)
Tax benefit (expense) on amounts reclassified into earnings		31		17		30
Recognized gain (loss)	$	(82)	$	(30)	$	(51)

(a) These components are included in the computation of net periodic benefit cost included in Note 16.

Noncontrolling Interest

Ball acquired the remaining interests in its Latapack-Ball joint venture in Brazil for consideration of approximately 5.7 million treasury shares of Ball common stock, valued at $403 million, and $17 million in cash. The accounting guidance requires changes in noncontrolling interests that do not result in a change of control to be recorded as an equity transaction. Where there is a difference between the fair value of consideration paid and the carrying value of the noncontrolling interest, it is recorded to common stock. The difference of $220 million between the noncontrolling interest carrying value of $200 million at the time of acquisition and the fair value of the consideration paid of $420 million was recorded as a decrease to common stock. The acquisition of the joint venture company was completed in December 2015, and Latapack-Ball is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Ball Corporation.