Warren E. Buffett’s deal-making engine is humming.
With a deal on Thursday to buy Duracell from Procter & Gamble, Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate run by Mr. Buffett, has shown once again that it has an appetite for large and creatively structured acquisitions.
Berkshire has struck a number of deals in very different industries in the last few years, including big ones like the $23 billion purchase of H.J. Heinz and smaller transactions like a $1.1 billion acquisition of a Miami TV station and other assets. The conglomerate even showed up this summer to provide financing to a takeover struck by Burger King Worldwide.
Mr. Buffett seemed to signal this hunger in his letter to shareholders this year. With the Heinz deal, he said, “we created a partnership template that may be used by Berkshire in future acquisitions of size.” And he suggested that Berkshire’s energy subsidiary would likely strike more large acquisitions after buying NV Energy for $5.6 billion.
He has been on a hunt for blockbuster deals for some time. In his annual shareholder letter in February 2011, he wrote: “Our elephant gun has been reloaded, and my trigger finger is itchy.”
The Duracell deal consists mostly of stock. P.&G. will first recapitalize Duracell by injecting about $1.8 billion in cash into the subsidiary. Then Berkshire will take over the battery business by exchanging its shares in P.&G., currently valued at about $4.7 billion.
But Berkshire has a mighty war chest to strike more deals in the future. The company reported nearly $62.4 billion of cash across its various businesses as of the end of September.
Here is a look back at some of Mr. Buffett’s recent deals:
Heinz: February 2013 | Berkshire teamed up with 3G Capital of Brazil to buy the ketchup maker H.J. Heinz for $23 billion. The blockbuster deal fit Mr. Buffett’s style almost to a T, and it prominently displayed his friendship with 3G, with whom he would work again in the future.
NV Energy: May 2013 | MidAmerican Energy Holdings (which has since been renamed Berkshire Hathaway Energy) agreed to buy Nevada’s largest electric utility, NV Energy, for $5.6 billion. It was the largest ever acquisition by MidAmerican, which Mr. Buffett bought in 2000.
Miami TV Station: March 2014 | In a $1.1 billion deal, Berkshire gave up most of its stake in the Graham Holdings Company in exchange for a Miami television station, WPLG; hundreds of millions of dollars in cash; and Berkshire shares owned by Graham Holdings. The deal reduced Mr. Buffett’s ties to the Graham family, which for decades ran The Washington Post.
Burger King: August 2014 | Berkshire was not the acquirer, but the conglomerate still helped finance Burger King Worldwide’s $11.4 billion takeover of the Canadian restaurant chain Tim Hortons by buying $3 billion of preferred shares in the new company. The arrangement allowed to Mr. Buffett work alongside 3G Capital, which controlled Burger King.
Van Tuyl Group: October 2014 | In its latest move into transportation, Berkshire bought the Van Tuyl Group, the country’s fifth-biggest auto dealership by sales. The group would be renamed Berkshire Hathaway Automotive, reflecting a new effort by Mr. Buffett to promote the Berkshire brand.
Warren Buffett to Buy Duracell in $4.7 Billion Stock Deal
Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate run by Warren E. Buffett, will acquire Duracell using a transaction aimed at lowering the tax bill.
An earlier version of this article misstated one element of the Duracell deal. Procter & Gamble will inject about $1.8 billion in cash into Duracell, not Berkshire Hathaway.