Subject: Mars News
Mars is mentioned now and again as a possible elephant for Berkshire.

Some news:
Mars prices $26 billion 8-part bond, highlights big M&A financing week
https://www.reuters.com/market...

Family-owned candy giant Mars on Wednesday priced a $26 billion eight-part investment-grade bond offering to help finance its takeover of Pringles maker Kellanova (K.N), in what is expected to be one of the largest acquisition financing deals this year.

Bank of America (BAC.N), BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA), Citigroup (C.N), JP Morgan (JPM.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N), and Rabobank were the bookrunners for the offering.

IIRC, Berkshire was part of the financing for the Wrigley purchase. No mention of Berkshire in this one, yet.

More:
Candy Maker Mars Paid $1.5 Billion to Family Shareholders in 2024
https://www.msn.com/en-ph/mone...

Candy and pet-care giant Mars Inc. paid its family shareholders $1.5 billion in dividends last year, more than triple the amount it distributed in 2023 and 2022.

The payouts were disclosed as dividends to common stockholders in a prospectus for investors, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg. The McLean, Virginia-based company is selling bonds for its nearly $36 billion purchase of rival snack maker Kellanova. The filing showed the fifth-generation family business had $54.6 billion in net sales in 2024, up 4.6% from a year earlier.

Don't know how many family members there are these days. The Mars brothers were famous for their personal frugal ways, much like Buffett - they invested in the businesses. Could be that their descendants are less frugal, and $1.5b doesn't go very far? Uncle Warren could help get them a much bigger, though one-time payout, if they wanted.

Do we Berkshire shareholders want that? More snack foods? 4.6% growth in sales?