Kerry's portfolio could grow with Heinz deal

Kerry, as part of his confirmation last month, agreed to divest holdings in dozens of companies after leaving his Massachusetts Senate seat. But Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, held at least $3 million in Heinz stock through family trusts as of 2010, according to his most recent financial disclosure form. She was allowed to keep those assets under a January agreement approved by government ethics officials.

Under the terms of the Heinz deal announced Thursday, Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital, an investment firm based in Rio de Janeiro and New York, will pay $72.50 a share for Heinz, which closed at $60.48 on Wednesday. The buyers will pay $23 billion in cash and assume more than $4 billion in debt.

Kerry did not file an updated financial disclosure before his confirmation, so it is not clear whether his wife's trusts sold off any of its Heinz stock since 2010. But based on the Kerrys' known Heinz stock holdings of about $3 million and the stock's $49.46 per share value at the end of 2010, the couple could have reaped as much as $1 million from the terms of the offer, according to an Associated Press analysis.

Kerry told State Department officials earlier this year that his wife is a beneficiary of three family trusts, each of which held more than $1 million in Heinz stock in 2010. In his recent divestment agreement, Kerry said he was not a beneficiary of his wife's trusts but agreed to recuse himself from decisions involving the Heinz company when appropriate.