This past November, Warren Buffett placed a bid in an effort to acquire New York Stock Exchange operator NYSE Euronext. But his offer fell short because there was a larger one already on the table from Intercontinental Exchange Inc., we learned from two people familiar with the situation.
Since the sources were not allowed to discuss this matter in public, they have to speak under the veil of anonymity… We learned from Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett’s conglomerate – in a regulatory filing by ICE on Monday. Berkshire was the Company A bidder.
NYSE Euronext chose not to comment on this matter, and the assistant of Warren Buffett couldn’t be reached immediately. David Faber first reported this news on CNBC.
Intercontinental Exchange Inc. agreed to purchase NYSE Euronext for a total of $8.2 billion late last month after being in negotiation and talks for about two months.
Before the deal was finalized, the Board of Directors of the New York Stock Exchange instructed the company’s bankers to look for other alternatives, which was made public in an Intercontinental Exchange Inc. filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
On November 25, the bankers of Perella Weinberg approached Berkshire Hathaway, we read in the filing. On November 28, Berkshire Hathaway presented their offer, but it was much less than Intercontinental Exchange Inc.’s bid, and the offer was also contingent upon the sale of NYSE Euronext European derivatives business for a very low price.
On December 12 and 13th, at an NYSE board meeting, Perella Weinberg mentioned that they are still willing to work with Berkshire Hathaway, but the company did not improve their offer. These were the only instances where the unidentified Berkshire Hathaway was mentioned.
If the deal were made, this would’ve been relatively small compared to what Warren Buffett usually buys these days. Throughout 2012, the majority of the deals he looked to make were in the $20 million range. He also mentioned that he would potentially look to do a $30 billion deal in 2013.