Warren Buffett’s company outbid in effort to buy area firm

CLEARWATER — Private equity firm Apollo Global Management increased the offer price for IT product distribution giant Tech Data 11.5%, from $130 a share to $145—a successful effort to outbid a competing, $5 billion offer from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.

Apollo Global Management’s original $130-a-share offer for Clearwater-based Tech Data — the largest publicly traded company by revenue in the region and second largest overall behind Publix — was announced Nov. 13. Under the deal’s “go-shop” clause, another offer, for $140 a share, came in for Tech Data Nov. 23, according to a statement. That second offer was from Berkshire Hathaway, the company confirmed after it was reported in business media outlets.

Apollo, in response to the Berkshire Hathaway offer, raised its bid to $145 a share, close to $6 billion in total, Tech Data officials say in the statement. The Tech Data board met Nov. 27 and accepted Apollo's higher bid. 

The go-shop period, the statement adds, runs through Dec. 9, where other offers can still come in for Tech Data, which posted $33.6 billion in revenue in 2018 — up 38.9% from $24.19 billion in 2017.