American Billionaire buys Industrial Paint Company
Industrial paint company, Axalta Coating Systems has enjoyed a 5% rise in its share value in April 2015, thanks to Warren Buffetts’ recent acquisition of the company
Billionaire Warren Buffett bought 20 million shares of industrial paint company, Axalta Coating Systems and is said to be very pleased with his purchase, it certainly looks that way by the smile on his face.
The purchase of shares in this industrial paint company has certainly raised a few eyebrows. The grand total of £365 million, paid out by Mr Buffet’s company Berkshire Hathaway, is way higher than the November 2014 IPO level. So, please read on to find out more about this deal, Axalta Coating Systems and Warren Buffett himself.
20 Million Axalta Shares Purchased
The deal was announced on Tuesday 7th April by Berkshire Hathaway and sent share prices soaring. A total of 20 million shares at £18.26 each, equated to a £329 million transaction total. The shares were purchased from Axalta Coating Systems affiliate, Carlyle Group LP. The Washington based global asset management company only bought its shares 2 years ago. It paid DuPont just over £3 billion with an equity investment of £880 million.
The Carlyle Group began a process of cost cutting exercises to make the industrial paint company more efficient, which seems to have paid off. The value of the business has risen from £12.39 to over £20.21 per share since November 2014. As part of the deal, Berkshire Hathaway has promised not to dispose of any shares for 90 days in return for registration rights with Axalta. Well, everything seems to be progressing nicely so far. However, we will watch this space with interest over the coming months.
About Axalta Coating Systems
Trading in over 130 countries worldwide and specialising in transportation coatings, industrial paint application technologies and colour matching tools, has made Axalta Coating Systems a very sought after business indeed. With as many as 120,000 customers and 4,000 distributors, this 145 year old company has gained a solid reputation across the globe. With it’s HQ in Philadelphia USA, it has over 12,000 employees and 35 manufacturing plants around the world. A healthy turnover of £2.8 billion makes it a world heavy weight in the specialist paint industry.
About Berkshire Hathaway Inc
You probably know a fair bit about the American billionaire, Warren Buffett already. He is a philanthropist and the most successful investor of the 20th century. He was born 30th August 1930 in Omaha USA, where he still lives and has his head quarters. His favourite meal is a cheeseburger and Cherry Coke, his first job was delivering newspapers for The Washington Post and one of his first investments was a pinball machine!
How much do you know about Berkshire Hathaway though? Well apart from having an awful website they are pretty good at everything else they do! The conglomerate has its HQ in Omaha USA, turnover in 2014 was over £126 billion and it has a total value of £342 billion.
Chairman, President, and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated is Warren Buffet, as you know and it was founded by Oliver Chace in 1839. Berkshire Hathaway owns 100% shares in Lubrizol, Dairy Queen, Fruit of the Loom, Helzberg Diamonds, and NetJets to name a few. It owns around 50% of Heinz and an undisclosed percentage of Mars. Minority share holdings in American Express, The Coca-Cola Company, Wells Fargo and IBM are also in its possession.
There will be more to follow on this during the year so stay tuned for more developments, right here at D&D Coatings.
The deal was announced on Tuesday 7th April by Berkshire Hathaway and sent share prices soaring. A total of 20 million shares at £18.26 each, equated to a £329 million transaction total. The shares were purchased from Axalta Coating Systems affiliate, Carlyle Group LP. The Washington based global asset management company only bought its shares 2 years ago. It paid DuPont just over £3 billion with an equity investment of £880 million.
