14. Shareholders’ Equity and Comprehensive Earnings

In April 2017, the company’s board of directors declared a two-for-one split of Ball Corporation’s common stock and increased the quarterly cash dividend by 54 percent to 10 cents on a post-split basis. The stock split was effective as of May 16, 2017.

In August 2017, 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 in August 2017, and received 2.2 million shares, which represented approximately 85 percent of the total shares. The agreement is expected to settle during the fourth quarter of 2017.

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, 2016	$	(329)	$	(590)	$	(22)	$	(941)
Other comprehensive earnings (loss) before reclassifications		—		(52)		(38)		(90)
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive earnings (loss)		—		41		65		106
Balance at September 30, 2017	$	(329)	$	(601)	$	5	$	(925)

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


	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
($ in millions)	2017		2016		2017		2016

Gains (losses) on cash flow hedges:
Commodity contracts recorded in net sales	$	—	$	(1)	$	(3)	$	2
Commodity contracts recorded in cost of sales		12		2		34		(8)
Currency exchange contracts recorded in selling, general and administrative		1		5		(2)		3
Currency exchange contracts recorded in business consolidation and other activities		(3)		—		—		—
Cross-currency swaps recorded in selling, general and administrative		(35)		(7)		(119)		(6)
Cross-currency swaps recorded in interest expense		3		—		13		—
Interest rate contracts recorded in interest expense		—		(1)		—		(1)
Commodity and currency exchange contracts attributable to the divestment business recorded in business consolidation and other activities		—		—		—		(4)
Total before tax effect		(22)		(2)		(77)		(14)
Tax benefit (expense) on amounts reclassified into earnings		15		2		12		2
Recognized gain (loss)	$	(7)	$	—	$	(65)	$	(12)

Amortization of pension and other postretirement benefits: (a)
Prior service income (expense)	$	(1)	$	—	$	(1)	$	3
Actuarial gains (losses) (b)		(48)		(9)		(65)		(108)
Total before tax effect		(49)		(9)		(66)		(105)
Tax benefit (expense) on amounts reclassified into earnings		19		3		25		29
Recognized gain (loss)	$	(30)	$	(6)	$	(41)	$	(76)

(a)

The pension components are included in the computation of net periodic benefit cost included in Note 13.

(b)

Includes curtailment and settlement losses. Refer to Note 13 for further detail.