The Brazilian billionaire who bought Heinz and Burger King is trying to strike a ~$250 billion deal

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Jorge Lemann is behind some of America's most iconic consumer brands.

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The Brazilian billionaire's investment company, 3G Capital, has invested in or backed takeovers of Kraft, Heinz, Burger King, Tim Hortons, Anheuser Busch and SAB Miller.

Now, Kraft Heinz - which counts Lemann and Warren Buffett among its top shareholders - is pushing for a deal for Unilever.

Unilever has rejected the approach, but Kraft said in a statement that is is looking "forward to working to reach agreement on the terms of a transaction." Unilever said in a statement is does not see the basis for any further discussions.

A deal would put a huge chunk of the world's best known brands in the hands of one company.

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Combinations of large consumer companies are Lemann's signature: 3G created the world's fifth-largest food company by investing $10 billion into a merger of Kraft and Heinz, and engineered a fast-food giant after buying Burger King in 2010 for $3.3 billion and putting it together with Tim Hortons for another $11.3 billion.

"I think above all you must always be building something," he says in this video interview with Falconi Consultants posted on YouTube. "We always want to arrive somewhere, to improve, and we are always trying to get there by making things better around us ... these are the things that guide me."

The Harvard graduate has gone from journalist to national tennis champion to banker and now billionaire investor with a net worth of over $29 billion, according to Forbes. Here's his story:

This is an updated version of an article published earlier this month about Jorge Lemann.