Ketchup maker H.J. Heinz Co. agreed to be purchased for $28 billion Thursday by a consortium including Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and private equity firm 3G Capital.
Heinz shareholders will receive $72.50 a share in cash, a 20% premium over Wednesday’s closing price, which was already near Heinz’s record high. It will keep Heinz’s headquarters in Pittsburgh.
Shares of Heinz shot even higher, to $72.90 a share, in premarket trading on the news. Shares of Berkshire were not trading pre-market.
Berkshire has investments in a number of high-profile companies, including Deere & Co., IBM and Procter & Gamble. But it also owns a number of companies outright, including fast-food chain Dairy Queen, insurer GEICO and the railroad company Burlington Northern Santa Fe.
