they'll say, listen, when reynolds bought lorillard it only paid 13 times ebitda.here's going to be about 14 million of cost synergies, we're giving you a decent amount of stock here. why now is the question. it's never been a question of when, it's been a question of -- excuse me, right, it's never been a question of whether they would do this, just a question of when they would do it. >> all right. >> why now? obviously interest rates are very low, a lot of cash they would need for this deal. hence being able to borrow. b.a.t.'s been doing fairly well. >> i was going to ask you what the pound is. >> so many of their sales are international, and they've been beneficiaries of the lower pound given it's made their predict more competitive in overseas markets. and the two companies have sort of aligned. reynolds just recently had an earnings miss, stock went down. so p/e multiples are more closely aligned right now. so those were a number of reasons why now. although they've been planning this for weeks. it's not as though they were waiting for reynolds to miss earni

british tobacco, their sales are down 11% year over year, so go after reynolds who buy the way bought lorillard for $27 billion a couple years ago. then you add in the political front. there's going to be two names starting in january looks that way and that is sanders and elizabeth warren, they are going to be involved in a big way in the economy. and they do not like big business. and they are low to let businesses grow, so i think the rush is on right now and i think we're going to see more of this, not less. >> steve, normally when the smart money crowd or those who have a lot of money and are making their bets, they're telling us something is about to happen. i don't know whether it's a political response, a sense the federal reserve finally points to raise interest rates deals won't be as cheap in the future. but they all seem to be pouncing at the same time. what do you make of it? >> well, i think it's been indicated the economy's not growing very much. growth has been a lot of m/a activity, financial eng mering, business expenditures aren't what they should be. growth is coming by gobb

>> first of all, you had this pricing power, you had they merged in lorillard, but had management, andd you had this company with the ability to be the gift that keeps giving, whatever happens in the economy, and we like that. we want to sleep well at night. >> heineken. >> heineken. >> why heineken? another big holding for you. i assume you've been holding the dutch shares. >> newer position for us. but, you know, people love beer. and -- >> yes, they do. there has to be more. >> there is more to it. it is global, it is very well run. the disclosure is honest. the compensation is reasonable. and the family is the biggest shareholder. you get to participate with the family that over time has made everybody -- >> a lot of deals in that space as well. in bev, everything is coming together, molson. do you think heineken is a takeover candidate? >> the family is there for another 150 years. >> been around for 400, 500 years. you're owning it for the business. >> we own it because we love the business and we love the way they operate it. we went to vietnam, privileged enough to have a look