Business news for Tue, 25 Dec 2007 & with words acquire+cash. 3 news.

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Berkshire Hathaway and Marmon Holdings announced Tuesday that Berkshire will purchase 60% of Marmon Holdings, a private company owned by trusts benefiting members of the Pritzker Family of Chicago. Berkshire will put up $4.5 bln for the stake and will acquire the remaining 40% through staged acquisitions over a five to six year period, to be based on future earnings. Marmon will make a substantial distribution of cash and assets to shareholders prior to the expected closing in the first quarter of 2008. The Marmon Group is an international association of more than 125 manufacturing and service businesses.

HARRAH'S Entertainment Inc has received final regulatory approval needed to complete the largest casino buyout ever, a year after Apollo Management LP and TPG Inc agreed to the US$17.1 billion purchase. The National Indian Gaming Commission approved the acquisition, removing the last regulatory hurdle to the purchase, Las Vegas-based Harrah's said in a statement. The transaction will be completed in early 2008, the company said. Harrah's, the world's largest casino company, received permission from Illinois, Nevada, Indiana and six other regulators in the states where it operates. The buyout firms agreed in December 2006 to acquire Harrah's for US$90 a share, attracted by its real-estate holdings and ability to generate cash, according to Bloomberg News. Indian approval was needed because Harrah's runs tribal casinos. Founded in 1937 in Reno, Nevada, Harrah's owns the Bally's, Caesars and Flamingo casinos in Las Vegas as part of its holdings, most of which are in the United

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- W&T Offshore Inc. agreed to acquire the interest it doesn't own in Ship Shoal 349 field, located offshore Louisiana and covering two federal lease blocks, for $116 million from Apache Corp. W&T and Apache, both Houston energy companies, expect to close the deal by April 30. W&T said in a Monday statement that it would finance the deal from cash on hand.