Warren E. Buffett is continuing his shopping spree.
Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate overseen by Mr. Buffett, on Wednesday agreed to purchase two noncore units from IMI, an industrials group, for $1.1 billion in cash.
Though small, the deal for IMI’s beverage dispense and merchandising divisions, which make soda dispensers used in restaurants, is the latest acquisitions for Mr. Buffett, who has demonstrated an appetite for deal-making this year.
The IMI units will become part of the Marmon Group, a Berkshire subsidiary focused on industrial manufacturing that had $7 billion in revenues last year.
Earlier this year, Berkshire helped take H.J. Heinz private and acquired the Western utility NV Energy.
Selling the two units to Berkshire completes a process that IMI, based in London, began earlier this year. After IMI announced its intent to sell the units and focus the company on the flow control business, Berkshire approached the company and struck a deal.
IMI said it planned to use the proceeds from the sale to return £620 million to shareholders and contribute £70 million to the company’s British pension fund.
J.P. Morgan Cazenove and Citigroup advised IMI on the sale and return of capital program, and Robert W. Baird & Co. advised it on the sale of the merchandising division.
