IMI sells $1.1bn drinks business to Buffett IMI, the Birmingham-based engineering group, has sold its food and drink dispensing businesses to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway for $1.1bn (£690m), and plans to return £620m of it to shareholders. Shares in the company, which are trading at an all-time high, rose 2.4pc on Wednesday morning following the news. The deal is likely to be long-time chief executive Martin Lamb's final major act before stepping down at the end of the year. IMI, a member of the FTSE 100, will sell its Beverage Dispense and Merchandising divisions, which sell drink cooling equipment and retailing systems to shops and restaurants, to Marmon, a company owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. It will return £620m to shareholders and top up its UK pension fund with the remaining £70m. IMI, which specialises in making valves to control liquid flow in central heating systems, power plants and for other industrial uses, said it was selling the business in order to focus on these "sweetspot" areas, where it sees itself as a world leader. IMI aims to get the proportion of revenues from these areas up to 75pc from around 60pc before the disposal of the Beverage Dispense and Merchandising divisions, and 71pc excluding those businesses. "The disposal... is a major step for IMI," Mr Lamb said. It positions IMI as a highly differentiated, market leading flow control business focused entirely on industrial end markets. With these end markets set to benefit further from favourable structural trends such as climate change and urbanisation, and cumulative investments in research and development gaining traction, the prospects for accelerated long term growth are encouraging. IMI had announced that it was looking to sell the divisions earlier in the year. Last month, Mr Lamb announced he would step down at the end of the year after 13 years as chief executive and 33 at the company.