Yesterday Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that it would buy Heinz in a $28 billion deal, but they're not doing it alone.
For a buy this big, Buffett enlisted the help of Brazil's most famous banker and arguably fiercest dealmaker, Jorge Lemann.
Over the course of his life, Lemann has gone from journalist to national tennis champion to banker and now billionaire investor.
Last year, he overtook Eike Batista to become Brazil's richest man. In terms of their business style, however, Lemann and Batista have little in common. Where Batista is a flashy playboy who's vowed to become to the richest man in the world, Lemann is a silent killer. He's known for a strict management style, and he doesn't seem to be in the game for the money (from Bloomberg):
“Money is simply a way of measuring if the business is going well or not, but money in and of itself doesn’t fascinate me,” Lemann said in January 2008, according to an interview published in HSM Management magazine. He declined to comment for this story.
That says a lot.
He left Brazil for Harvard, and earned his bachelors degree in economics in 1961.
Lemann still has a great relationship with Harvard helping Brazilian students study there and setting up scholarships:
Lemann has generously supported cross-cultural initiatives at Harvard University, including the Brazil Studies Program and Brazil Office of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS), for over a decade. He established the Lemann Visiting Scholars program and, more recently, the Lemann Fellows program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Harvard School of Public Health, the Harvard Kennedy School and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. He has actively engaged with the 38 students who comprise the first five cohorts of Lemann Fellows, as well as with students he has supported at Harvard College, Harvard Business School and elsewhere at the University.
The Burger King deal was a huge success.
Getty Images Entertainment/ Stephen Lovekin/Staff
In 2 years they sold 29% of the company to hedge fund manager Bill Ackman's UK investment vehicle, Justice Holdings.
It was Justice that took Burger King public again last year (from FT):
“When I learnt that Burger King was interested in a possible transaction with Justice, I brought the opportunity to my Justice founding partners to consider,” Mr Ackman said. “They liked what I saw, a 58-year-old global brand, and a simple, predictable, free cash flow growth franchise in the process of transformation into a pure brand royalty business.”
It set the stage for Lemann's latest deal with Warren Buffett — buying Heinz.
The $28 billion deal came together in 6 weeks.
From Reuters:
"This was not a fishing expedition that turned into something. They'd done their homework," said a second source familiar with the situation. "They don't Mickey Mouse around..."
In order to keep the deal silent, code names were used, according to two sources. 3G was called "goose," Heinz was referred to as "penguin" and Berkshire was known as "owl." The news release also refers to the buyer as "Hawk Acquisition Holding Corp".
