Jump to content

Next Berkshire acquisition speculation


gfp

Recommended Posts

Not sure if there is already a thread discussing what the next material BRK acquisition will be (not including realtor offices and tiny crane operators here, just Billion dollar plus deals).

 

I'll posit a few whole company buyouts that Warren might consider -

 

CarMax, KMX

Philips 66, PSX

Home Depot, HD - although it is quite possible that he is completely done with retail

Coca-Cola, KO

DaVita, DVA - although he would probably rather steer clear of the healthcare industry entirely

Honeywell, HON

Boeing, BA

General Electric, GE - in whole or in parts

Mars, Inc - not likely that they would sell

Progressive, PGR - would this deal even be allowed by regulators?

Reyes Holdings - private company

Costco, COST - seriously doubt it at this price and above

 

Anyone know of some really large European private companies that would fit the bill?

 

Interested to hear other idea speculation.  Helps to pass the time between acquisitions - they are usually not the ones we speculate

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great idea with a recapitalization here, gfp,

 

CAT & DE - not now, but in the next severe downturn. I think CAT has done really well since the GFC. Mr. Gates owns CAT right now, if I remember correctly.

 

I'm not sure Mr. Buffett likes their financing arms though. Mr. Buffett could likely get better financing terms under the Berkshire umbrella for both compared to them as standalones, or provide group internal financing.

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

[J/K : Add to that : No need for an elephant gun to catch caterpillars and deers.]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I suspect it could be something where there's a new insight and something has significantly and materially changed. For example BNSF railroad - things had dramatically changed and permitted returns and tax treatment made it a great investment but it took others a while to recognize the value.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of the airlines seems plausible.

 

I'd prefer they buy Aercap, but they don't seem interested in airplane leasing.

 

On that I'd love to see in the next downturn would be DIS. At $250B market cap it would be big enough to move the needle, and the parks/hotels/cruise ships have plenty of opportunity to deploy capital at attractive returns

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest longinvestor

A large insurance biz.

 

Or big chunks of the insurance book from distressed companies. Just like AIG. There’re shoes likely to drop in the coming decade.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

AXP; especially if there’s a swoon again similar to the Salad Oil scandal.

 

I suppose if they were willing to give up their Bank charter.  And if they weren't a bank, it would free up Berkshire to acquire Delta without worrying about the Fed fretting over a very material commercial relationship...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

AXP; especially if there’s a swoon again similar to the Salad Oil scandal.

 

I suppose if they were willing to give up their Bank charter.  And if they weren't a bank, it would free up Berkshire to acquire Delta without worrying about the Fed fretting over a very material commercial relationship...

 

Good point. Also, Amex probably wouldn't need it's bank charter to attract funds if it was part of Berkshire.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

here's some heresy for ya. forget about adding any more managerial responsibility to the home office, even if Berkshire is famously decentralized.

 

Berkshire should buy Berkshire, and not mess around.

 

IPO 10% of BNSF and Berkshire Energy to increase the "public" portfolio by $130-$140 billion and put a more verifiable value on these.

Blow out of KHC at a 50% discount and lose $16 billion for tax purposes

Blow out of AAPL at market

 

Cash +$15 billion (IPO) + $4 billion (KHC) +$51 Billion = $70 billion

 

$122 billion at quarter end plus $70 billion from selling KHC, AAPL, and taking minority stakes in BNSF and BE public. = $190 billion pro-forma cash.

 

Tender for 27% of company ($150 billion) of stock at a 10% premium and highlight how freaking cheap and overcapitalized the company is, then we can talk about bringing more companies under the umbrella.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Use all cash flow to retire stock until the market assigns a proper value to Berkshire.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Likely sectors are chemicals (maybe DuPont, or LYB) or aerospace. They have already toeholds in both, so there would be a knowledge base in the company about what to buy. Both are durable business that will not go away.

 

Buffet sold of PSX, so I don’t think he will venture in the refinery sector.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah I agree on chemicals and aerospace.  Berkshire's preference has been for large business to business type industries for a while now.  It's hard to do well with consumer products and its hard to get consumer products companies of meaningful size.  Berkshire has probably learned its lessons with business to consumer stuff but we'll see.  I do think he would take Mars's call and he was willing to do a leveraged buyout of Unilever a few short years ago.

 

Likely sectors are chemicals (maybe DuPont, or LYB) or aerospace. They have already toeholds in both, so there would be a knowledge base in the company about what to buy. Both are durable business that will not go away.

 

Buffet sold of PSX, so I don’t think he will venture in the refinery sector.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Likely sectors are chemicals (maybe DuPont, or LYB) or aerospace. They have already toeholds in both, so there would be a knowledge base in the company about what to buy. Both are durable business that will not go away.

 

Buffet sold of PSX, so I don’t think he will venture in the refinery sector.

 

DuPont over LYB all day.  DuPont is actually a decent target IMO

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well he has continued to add Bank of NY Mellon shares for several years.  Isn't that similar?  Either way, he's not going to own a too-big-to-fail bank outright. 

 

State Street, Continental Building Products or the "Holy Grail"... Starbucks!

 

He bought a lot of bank stocks, but hasn’t touched the trust banks. I don’t think he has got much love for them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...