Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to buy Oriental Trading Co., a mail-order toy and novelty vendor located in Berkshire's hometown of Omaha, Neb., the Wall Street Journal reported today. The company agreed to pay about $500 million for Oriental Trading. The sale will mark a payday for Oriental Trading's shareholders, KKR & Co. being the largest, which bought the company out of bankruptcy 18 months ago. In the last 12 months, Oriental Trading made about $70 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization by selling party supplies, crafts, decorations and toys through the Internet as well as print catalogs. Private-equity firm KKR owns a one-third stake that it purchased through its KKR Asset Management business. KKR was a creditor to Oriental Trading and exchanged the debt for stock in the company when it exited from bankruptcy in February 2011.
