Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Buys British Businesses for $1.1 Billion

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By Trey Thoelcke Published
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Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) has acquired the beverage dispensing and merchandising businesses of IMI for $1.1 billion. The U.K.-based engineering firm says it will use the funds to bolster its pension fund and to return £620m to shareholders.

The IMI divisions sold, which sell drink cooling equipment and retailing display systems to restaurants and stores, will become part of Marmon, a company owned by Berkshire Hathaway with existing operations in the food service and retail industries.

The deal is expected to be the final major act of IMI’s long-time chief executive Martin Lamb before he steps down at the end of the year. Lamb said:

I particularly wish to thank all our employees in the Retail Dispense business for their efforts and commitment over many years in which they have made a first class contribution to IMI. I believe that Marmon, with its scale and focus on the retail space, will be an excellent long term owner of the business.

The deal is the latest in a series of bolt-on acquisitions made by the Berkshire Hathaway investment group in the United States and Europe. Buffett has encouraged the chief executives of his operating companies to seek out smaller, less-risky deals rather than large purchases.

Shares in London-traded IMI rose to all-time high Wednesday. Shares of Berkshire Hathaway were inactive in premarket trading in the United States.

24/7 Wall St. also recently took a look Warren Buffett’s Highest-Yielding Dividend Stocks, which include the likes of Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) and Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG), as well as the 10 Best Warren Buffett Stocks to Buy in the Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio, which includes such giants as General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM).

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About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

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