Posted on 12/25/2007 4:18:13 PM PST by mdittmar
- US billionaire investor Warren Buffet is reportedly paying 4.5 billion dollars for a majority stake in Marmon Holdings Inc., an industrial conglomerate owned by one of America's richest families.
Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is acquiring 60 percent of the industrial firm from Chicago's Pritzker family, which has owned Marmon for more than 50 years, The Wall Street Journal reported online.
Marmon, whose businesses range from plumbing products to electrical wire and cable, boasts seven billion dollars in annual revenue and more than 125 operating units, the daily said. Its biggest unit is the railroad tank car maker Union Tank Car.
Berkshire will buy the rest of the company in stages by 2014, it said, adding that the final price tag will depend on Marmon's future performance.
It is Berkshire's biggest acquisition outside of the insurance industry, the Journal said.
The deal is part of a series of asset sales by the Pritzkers, who are restructuring their holdings to settle an internal family dispute over control, the daily reported.
Marmon chairman Tom Pritzker said Buffet's reputation for being a hands-off owner made him the ideal partner for the company.
"His philosophy is very consistent with our goals," Pritzker was quoted as saying.
Buffet told the Journal he plans to keep Marmon's chief executive, Frank Ptak, at the helm, and plans to add some "bolt-on acquisitions."
Union Tank Car makes the big black railroad tank cars you see being pulled around the countryside in RR trains. Ethanol, asphalt, chemicals and other products that cannot flow through a pipeline are delivered by tank car. Buffet also owns a nice piece of the BN railroad which delivers the tank cars at nearly triple the rate of five years ago. The cost of one car with internal coils is more than $100,000.
Intriguing news.
You, too, can hold a holding company. Holding companies are legal under the XIVth Amend and the State of New Jersey. What a country!
If Buffet had paid his “fair” share of taxes, for the children of course, then he would not have had enough money to buy Marmon for himself as a Christmas present.
America is just awesome. One family, $8.5 billion business. Incredible.
Buffet could buy Iran but he doesn’t invest where the gov’t has a history of nationalizing businesses.
“I think Marmon made class 8 trucks through 1995 or so...”
Yup, Marmon-Harringtons. They started making them, I think, in the ‘30s after they got out of the car business. The trucks, like the cars, were beautiful things. A client of mine still runs one long hauling.
Berkshire uses its insurance companies to shield itself from capital gains taxes.
The old fool is campaigning for the Hildebeast so if she gets elected (horror of horrors) and “taxes the rich” and “takes the profit” he may feel some pain.
He’s still sharp but no doubt is running on the old tried and tested rules rather than inspiration at this point.
I am sure BH uses every legal loophole they can find to avoid taxes, like previous losses from companies they bought to cover profit from the winners. Nothing wrong with that but this guy is trying to get the socialist elected. Very weird.
Funny how things affect us all.
Do you remember his complaint of a month or so ago that he was paying less taxes than his office staff?
I never got that. Was he for higher taxes for himself, or for lower taxes for his employees?
In either case I would have agreed with him.
He appeared with Hillary and claimed that his secretary paid more than he did proving that the tax system favors the rich etc. etc. In any case, he doesnt take any salary and thus is limited to a 15% capital gains rate. Secretary is in the 23% range or somewhere above him. He has the option to simply “volunteer” to pay more taxes, but what liberal ever does that.
Smart-aleck dept.: They make the ones marked "UTLX." I used to work for a UT subcontractor many years ago. General American (GATX) and American Car & Foundry (ACFX), two other railcar manufacturers, were nearby. We made parts for them too. After all these years, I still look for their marks when I get stopped by a train.
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