gfp Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 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 More sharing options...
John Hjorth Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 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 More sharing options...
Dynamic Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 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 More sharing options...
Castanza Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 I'd like to see something like Waste Management. It certainly is expensive right now, but it would branch them out a bit more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bizaro86 Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 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 More sharing options...
Guest longinvestor Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 AXP; especially if there’s a swoon again similar to the Salad Oil scandal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest longinvestor Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 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 More sharing options...
gfp Posted August 9, 2019 Author Share Posted August 9, 2019 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 More sharing options...
Charlie Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 - Aldi - Lidl - Lindt & Sprüngli - Ferrero - Engel & Völkers - Hannover Rück - Ikea The strong US dollar would be a nice tailwind for European acquisitions. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogermunibond Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 I'll take a stab here. Howmet Aerospace by Precision Cast when it gets spun out of Arconic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bizaro86 Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 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 More sharing options...
thepupil Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 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 More sharing options...
Spekulatius Posted August 10, 2019 Share Posted August 10, 2019 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 More sharing options...
gfp Posted August 10, 2019 Author Share Posted August 10, 2019 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 More sharing options...
DooDiligence Posted August 10, 2019 Share Posted August 10, 2019 FUL (smallish $2.3B mkt cap.) MMM (largish $94B mkt cap.) or a home builder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BargainValueHunter Posted August 12, 2019 Share Posted August 12, 2019 State Street, Continental Building Products or the "Holy Grail"... Starbucks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG2008 Posted August 12, 2019 Share Posted August 12, 2019 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 More sharing options...
Spekulatius Posted August 12, 2019 Share Posted August 12, 2019 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 More sharing options...
gfp Posted August 12, 2019 Author Share Posted August 12, 2019 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 More sharing options...
CorpRaider Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 $LUV, $FIZZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LC Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 If Uncle Warren really cared he'd buy me out of my portfolio ;D SNAP could be a decent acquisition. Hell, he could buy NIKE if he wanted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gfp Posted August 13, 2019 Author Share Posted August 13, 2019 Well they are not in negotiations to buyout GE at the moment, or Larry probably would refrain from buying his own stock - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/40545/000123120519000160/xslF345X03/edgar.xml Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james22 Posted August 15, 2019 Share Posted August 15, 2019 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, der. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest eatliftinvestgolf Posted August 21, 2019 Share Posted August 21, 2019 Uber, at a much lower market cap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castanza Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 Sheetz gas station chain. - People love Sheetz food. - Tesla Charging stations. Not unique but their atmosphere and food are arguably best in class giving them some advantage over competition to entice people to charge there. - 530ish locations (Flying J has 650ish) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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