Buffett Ups His Holdings of Japanese Trading Houses to About 9%

February 26, 2024, 09.21 AM | Source: Reuters

ILUSTRASI. FILE PHOTO: Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger walks past a crowd at the annual Berkshire shareholder shopping day in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S., May 3, 2019. REUTERS/Scott Morgan/File Photo

WARREN BUFFETT - TOKYO- Billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has raised its stake in Japan's top five trading firms to around 9%, it said in its annual report.

Berkshire Hathaway's wholly owned subsidiary National Indemnity Company previously held about 7% to 8% in Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T,) Itochu Corp (8001.T), Mitsui & Co (8031.T), Sumitomo Corp (8053.T) and Marubeni Corp (8002.T), according to filings made in June.

Berkshire first announced its stakes in the trading houses in 2020 to hold them long-term and increase them to as much as 9.9%.

Berkshire Hathaway said in the report, dated Feb. 24, that it paid 1.6 trillion yen (US$ 10.63 billion) for the five stakes, which were valued at 2.9 trillion yen at the end of 2023. In dollar terms, that translated to unrealized gains of 61% or US$ 8 billion, it said.