Thursday, May 30, 2013

BRK

I wasn't going to post this story: Berkshire buys NV Energy, but when BRK-B hit another 52-week high (one of several over the past few weeks), it was impossible to resist.

So, Motley Fool is reporting:
There's a lot that's not surprising about the acquisition. The size, if anything, is small. Buffett's been very vocal about his desire to make "elephant"-sized purchases. Nor is it surprising that the conglomerate is expanding its reach with a steady utility business. These types of businesses add stability to the insurance and consumer-goods-heavy Berkshire. And it shouldn't be all that surprising that the price for NV Energy doesn't look all that cheap. If the Heinz deal reminded us of anything, it's that Buffett is willing to shell out a "full" price for a good buy.

But what may surprise a lot of investors is that by all appearances, Buffett had very little to do with this multibillion-dollar acquisition. Greg Abel, the CEO of MidAmerican, appears to have been firmly in the driver's seat on this one. Sure, Buffett knows that Abel is tapping MidAmerican's cash resources for the billions to purchase of NV Energy -- he even chimed in on MidAmerican's press release that the company is "a great fit for Berkshire Hathaway." But this was very much the Greg Abel Show.
"The size, if anything, is small." $10 billion.

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