Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A, BRK.B) and private equity firm 3G Capital will buy iconic ketchup maker H.J Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ) for $28 billion, the largest deal ever in the food industry.

This transaction follows a string of deals including Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA) taking full control of NBC

Universal from General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE), Dell Inc. (Nasdaq: DELL) going private, and American Airlines and U.S. Airways Group Inc. (NYSE: LCC) merging to form the world's largest airline.

The Heinz deal values the Pittsburgh, PA-based company at $72.50 a share, a 20% premium to its all-time price. Berkshire will spend about $12 to $13 billion on the deal, according to Buffett.

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