“Anybody taking over the company from Warren Buffett – I think it’s potentially positive here that they would be able to focus on running the business as opposed to putting capital to work initially”, said Shanahan. His amassing of a vast personal wealth – $72.7 billion by Forbes’ last count – has made him the pin-up for aspiration and at 84 the Nebraskan native is showing no signs of slowing down. “This is right up there at the top” of expensive deals, he said.
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Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway said it would buy Precision Castparts in a deal valuing the company at US$32.3 billion. The $37 billion price tag includes assumption of Precision Castparts’ debt.
Berkshire will pay $235 per share in cash for Precision Castparts’ outstanding stock. Berkshire Class B shares fell 1.4 percent to $141.42 while its Class A shares were marginally down at $215,462.76.
Schoonmaker said that means Precision Castparts’ business is relatively protected from competitors because the cost of switching away would be expensive for its customers. But over the long-term, energy prices do not matter in terms of this deal. He has run Berkshire since 1965. The target generates about $10 billion in annual sales manufacturing complex and proprietary engineered metal components for aerospace and gas turbine applications, and ranks as a leading producer of titanium and nickel alloy products.
That’s also a vote of confidence for the rest of Wichita’s commercial aerospace cluster, which has been surging to meet the industry’s unprecedented demand.
Precision Castparts’ shares were trading at $231.56 in premarket trading on Monday.
On the other hand, Mark Donegan, Chairman and CEO of Precision Castparts said, “We are very pleased to be joining forces with Berkshire Hathaway“. Berkshire is already one of the company’s largest shareholders, with a 3% stake.
That’s 21pc more than Friday’s closing price for the Portland, Oregon-based company, which had dropped 17pc in 12 months amid the slump in energy prices.
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The deal pushes Berkshire further into heavy industry and cuts reliance on insurance and stock picking, growth engines for most of Buffett’s 50 years in charge. Credit Suisse and the law firms Cravath, Swaine & Moore and Stoel Rives advised Precision Castparts.
