Buffett, Berkshire to buy Wyman-Gordon parent
(Updated Aug. 11 to correct purchase price in second paragraph) The parent company of Wyman-Gordon is being sold to Berkshire Hathaway, the multinational holding company of several business lines owned by billionaire Warren Buffett, the companies announced Monday.
Berkshire is buying Precision Castparts Corp. (PCC), based in Portland, Ore., for $37.2 billion in cash, or $235 a share, the firms announced. Berkshire will also assume PCC’s outstanding net debt.
Wyman-Gordon, originally founded in Worcester in 1883, has operations in the city, as well as its forging facility in North Grafton. That operation makes closed and open-die titanium, and steel- and nickel-based forgings for the aerospace, energy, and defense industries. The Worcester operations make isothermal forgings for military and commercial turbine applications.
Wyman-Gordon employs about 550 at its Central Massachusetts sites. PCC bought Wyman-Gordon in 1999.
“I’ve admired (Precision’s) operation for a long time,” Buffett said in a statement. “For good reasons, it is the supplier of choice for the world’s aerospace industry, one of the largest sources of American exports.”
“We are very pleased to be joining forces with Berkshire Hathaway,” said Mark Donegan, PCC’s chairman and CEO. “We see a unique alignment between Warren’s management and investment philosophy and how we manage PCC for the long-term.”
The deal requires approval by a majority of PCC stockholders. The companies expect the deal to be completed in the first quarter of 2016.
The sale price is well above what PCC’s stock was trading for at the close of business Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. A year ago, the stock was trading at nearly $234 a share. It opened today’s trading at $193.94.
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