usbased packaging giant ball corporation is in negotiations over a possible acquisition of british rival rexam for 6.6bn, in a move which would bring together two leading can makers.ball has offered to pay 610 pence for each share of rexam in a combination of cash and equity.ball said in a statement, "there is no certainty any formal offer will be made for rexam, nor as to the terms on which any offer may be made. a further announcement will be made when appropriate."rexam said that ball will have to take a final decision on a formal offer by not later than 5 march 2015 as per the uk regulations.financial times cited analysts as saying that the proposed merger could give the combined company a share of around 61, 69 and 74 in north america, europe and brazil, respectively in the drinks cans market.rexam and ball would have 21 share of the global can market.vertical research partners analyst chip dillon said "they are going to have to divest so much to get this through the antitrust authorities."rexam, which is primarily focused on drinks cans, operates 55 facilities in 20 countries worldwide, and has a workforce of 8,000.for the first half of 2014, the company generated revenues of £1.88bn. as of june 2014, rexam has net debt of £1.1bn.ball and rexam&39s talks come after meadwestvaco and rocktenn agreed to create a 16bn entity last week. 
