The $23 billion takeover of H.J. Heinz on Thursday featured a familiar cast of characters save for one unlikely victor: Secretary of State John Kerry.
Mr. Kerry â€" married to Teresa Heinz Kerry, an heir to the Heinz ketchup fortune â€" held $3 million worth of shares in the company last year, according to an analysis of disclosure forms by the Center for Responsive Politics. Unless he since sold off the stake, Mr. Kerry will likely reaped hundreds of thousands of dollars. Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital have agreed to pay $72.50 a share for Heinz, roughly 20 percent above the closing price on Wednesday
Ms. Heinz Kerry also has significant stakes in the condiment maker. She inherited the fortune from her husband H. John Heinz III, a Republican senator who died in a 1991 plane crash.
When Mr. Kerry, a Democratic senator for more than two decades, took over the State Department this month, he vowed to she some private investments. So did Ms. Heinz Kerry.
But the divestitures, coming within 90 days of him taking office, are largely unrelated to Heinz. Mr. Kerry will forfeit his stake in Apple, Goldman Sachs and other corporate giants, but a recent ethics form made no mention of his Heinz shares.
As for Ms. Heinz Kerry, she remains a beneficiary of various family trusts, in which the largest investment is Heinz stock. She did agree to forgo her investment in the Heinz Family Group, an unrelated private firm.
The reluctance to part ways with Heinz shares could have something to do with their recent performance. Since filing his last Congressional disclosure in August, when he owned a $3 million piece of the company, the shares skyrocketed some 30 percent. On Thursday, after the deal was announced, shares jumped nearly 20 percent, to over $72.
It is unclear whether Mr. Kerry sold any part of t! he stake since the August disclosure. The State Department did not immediately return a request for comment.
Mr. Kerry will recuse himself from “certain matters involving†the company. He would do so, the form said, “as a matter of prudence.â€
But the policy has loopholes. He can weigh in on Heinz with the blessing of ethics officials.
(No word on how the Secretary of State might encounter the condiment maker in the course of his work.)
