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Warren Buffett. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
Warren Buffett’s investment company, Berkshire Hathaway, said Monday that it has agreed to buy the chemical company Lubrizol for $9.7 billion.
Berkshire Hathaway and Lubrizol said the deal was for 100 percent of all outstanding shares at $135 per share. That’s a 28 percent premium over Lubrizol’s closing price on Friday of $105.44 per share, and is 18 percent higher than the company’s highest-ever closing price, according to the companies.
The deal includes $700 million in assumed debt.
Berkshire described the deal as “one of the largest acquisitions in Berkshire Hathaway history.“ Get the full story »
Initial takeover offers for Fortune Brands’ golf unit are expected to be submitted today by a range of bidders, including Adidas AG, Nike Inc and private equity firms, sources familiar with the situation said on Friday.
Fortune Brands said in December it would split off its golf and home products units under pressure from activist investor William Ackman.
Tomy Co. plans to buy major U.S. toymaker RC2 Corp. for an estimated 50 billion yen ($604 million) to offset dwindling domestic demand, Japanese newspaper The Nikkei reported early Friday.
Tomy, which will make an announcement as soon as Friday, is likely to mount a tender offer for RC2. If successful, it will be one of the largest overseas acquisitions by a Japanese toymaker. Get the full story »
Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo SAB, the second largest bakery company in the world by revenue, may issue debt in the U.S. or Mexico to help finance its $959 million acquisition of Sara Lee Corp.’s fresh bakery assets in North America.
According to Armando Giner, director of investor relations at Bimbo, market conditions are favorable at the moment and the company is analyzing the possibility of issuing debt in both countries, as well as using bank financing. Get the full story »
A Walgreens on Michigan Avenue. (Bonnie Trafelet/Chicago Tribune)
Walgreen Co. said Wednesday it will sell its pharmacy benefit management business, which increasingly has conflicted with the drugstore giant’s push to get consumers to fill their prescriptions at the pharmacy counter.
The Deerfield-based company will sell Walgreens Health Initiatives for $525 million in cash to Catalyst Health Solutions Inc. of Rockville, Md. The deal is expected to close in June. Get the full story »
Sprint Nextel Corp. and Deutsche Telekom AG are again discussing options for combining Sprint with the German company’s U.S. subsidiary, T-Mobile USA, though a deal is unlikely in the near term, people familiar with the matter said.
A deal would combine the third and fourth largest wireless carriers in the U.S. and create a substantial counterweight to industry leaders AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group. Get the full story »
Magnetar Capital, an investment management firm based in Evanston, said on Monday that James River Coal Co. has entered into an agreement to purchase International Resource Partners LP, a metallurgical and steam coal company based in West Virginia. Get the full story »
Deerfield-based pharmacy giant Walgreen Co. said last month’s sales were up nearly 8 percent, boosted by its acquisition of the large Duane Reade pharmacy chain in New York. Get the full story »
NYSE Euronext will launch its long-awaited challenge to CME Group’s lucrative interest rate futures franchise on March 21, the exchange operator said on Wednesday.
The launch highlights the importance of the derivatives business to the operator of the world’s best known stock exchange, which agreed last month to be taken over by Germany’s Deutsche Boerse AG. The combination would dominate European futures trading, even as the NYSE tries to win a foothold in U.S futures, where CME is the biggest player. Get the full story »
From Bloomberg News | Billionaire Warren Buffett said in his annual letter that wants to use his almost $40 billion pile of cash to pursue bigger acquisitions. That may put companies from Archer Daniels Midland Co. to General Dynamics Corp. and Exelon Corp. in his sights. Get the full story>>
Coca-Cola Co. said Tuesday that it acquired the remaining stake in Honest Tea for an undisclosed sum, giving the world’s largest soft drinks maker a stronger position in bottled tea.
Coke said Seth Goldman, Honest Tea’s founder and chief executive, will continue to run the business as an independent unit within Coca-Cola, whose tea portfolio has lagged those of rivals such as PepsiCo Inc., whose teas include Lipton and Tazo, and Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc., which makes Snapple. Get the full story »
Sherman Hospital in northwest suburban Elgin, which last month rejected an overture to merge with Centegra Health System, has had recent talks to partner with Advocate Health Care, the Chicago area’s largest provider of medical care. Get the full story »
Sherman Hospital confirmed Monday that it has rejected an offer from nearby Centegra Health System to merge into the two-hospital system.
Sherman said executives from Centegra, which owns hospitals in Woodstock and McHenry, was interested in a deal. The talks ended last month, Sherman spokeswoman Christine Priester said. Centegra could not be reached for comment early Monday afternoon. Get the full story »
