Lubrizol CFO, COO To Retire After Berkshire Deal Closes -Filing

Lubrizol Corp. (LZ) said its chief financial officer and chief operating officer will retire shortly after the company completes its merger with Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKA, BRKB).

Chief Financial Officer Charles Cooley will be replaced by Treasurer Brian Valentine, Lubrizol said in a regulatory filing Monday. Valentine has been treasurer since April 2009 and will continue with those responsibilities, the company said.

The company didn't name a successor to Chief Operating Officer Stephen Kirk in the regulatory filing. According to a Lubrizol proxy filed last year, Kirk has been at the company for about 40 years.

Both executives will depart "within a few weeks of the closing of the merger with Berkshire Hathaway," the filing said.

Lubrizol and Berkshire last week said they had agreed to extend the closing date of their merger to Dec. 31 under certain conditions.

Berkshire agreed in March to acquire Lubrizol for $135 a share. David Sokol, a Berkshire executive who brought the idea for the deal to Buffett, later resigned after questions about Lubrizol stock he purchased before the deal was finalized.

-By Erik Holm, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2892; [e-mail]