In Ajit Jain's Successes, Some See Buffett Successor |
| Wall Street Journal - May 4, 2012 |
Last summer, as financial markets swooned following an unprecedented downgrade of U.S. debt, Ajit Jain got a chance to walk in Warren Buffett's shoes.
Mr. Jain, who runs Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s BRKB -0.26%giant reinsurance division, made an unsolicited bid for Transatlantic Holdings Inc. The insurer had already agreed to a merger and was being circled by other potential suitors. But a drop in the value of those cash-and-stock proposals amid the U.S. debt crisis seemingly opened the door for an all-cash offer from Berkshire's Mr. Jain. It was just the sort of opportunistic investing that Mr. Buffett is the acknowledged master of.
The unusual approach to Transatlantic—Mr. Jain submitted his bid in a brief letter that laid out a tight deadline and undercut other bids—failed to win over executives and advisers of the insurer, which instead chose to merge with another firm months later. A person close to the negotiations said Transatlantic would have preferred to have gotten a call or offer from Mr. Buffett himself, and was unsure of Mr. Jain's plans for the business and its management.
Read Full Article from Wall Street Journal
- Posted: 2012-05-04 15:03:14
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