Brazil's Richest Man Involved In Heinz Acquisition

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

Let's catch up on yesterday's $23 billion bid to buy H.J. Heinz Company. Warren Buffett is one of the investors. The Oracle of Omaha is famous for snatching up American staples, like ketchup.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Lesser known is one of Buffet's partners in the acquisition - a Brazilian, equally found of American companies.

Today's last word in business is: another oracle?

WERTHEIMER: Jorge Paulo Lemann is Brazil's richest man, according to Bloomberg. His wealth does not come from mining that country's natural resources. After earning a fortune in banking, and a brief career as a professional tennis player, Lemann has amassed his billions with stakes in iconic American brands.

MONTAGNE: Lemann helped merge the international brewer InBev with Anheuser-Busch, creating the world's largest beer company. And his 3G Capital group took Burger King private, and then public again 18 months later.

WERTHEIMER: Lemann still owns a big stake in the fast food chain. So if you go to a BK any time soon, expect your Whopper and fries to come with Heinz ketchup.

And that's the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.

MONTAGNE: And I'm Renee Montagne. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.