John Kerry's portfolio could grow with $28b Heinz deal

WASHINGTON (AP) - The family financial portfolio of Secretary of State John Kerry could grow by hundreds of thousands of dollars as a result of the US$23 billion (S$28.4 billion) mega-deal between Nebraska billionaire Warren Buffett and a Brazil-owned investment firm to buy out ketchup and food producer H.J. Heinz Co.

Mr Kerry, as part of his confirmation last month, agreed to divest holdings in dozens of companies after leaving his Massachusetts Senate seat. But Mr Kerry's wife, Mrs Teresa Heinz Kerry, held at least US$3 million in Heinz stock through family trusts as of 2010, according to his most recent financial disclosure form. She was allowed to keep those assets under a January agreement approved by government ethics officials.

Under the terms of the Heinz deal announced on Thursday, Mr Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital, an investment firm based in Rio de Janeiro and New York, will pay US$72.50 a share for Heinz, which closed at US$60.48 on Wednesday. The buyers will pay US$23 billion in cash and assume more than US$4 billion in debt.

Mr Kerry did not file an updated financial disclosure before his confirmation, so it is not clear whether his wife's trusts sold off any of its Heinz stock since 2010. But based on the Kerrys' known Heinz stock holdings of about US$3 million and the stock's US$49.46 per share value at the end of 2010, the couple could have reaped as much as US$1 million from the terms of the offer, according to an Associated Press analysis.