Our outro from yesterday's "Warren Buffett Backs Driverless Trucks. Now They're Real":
....The introductory narrative isn't quite true. Beginning in 2008 Berkshire acquired 225 million shares of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD. Counting its various offerings it is the #1 EV manufacturer in China with Tesla #2. Worldwide the positions are reversed.
At Charlie Munger's urging BRK through its Berkshire Energy sub bought the position for $232 million. As of the last annual it was valued at $7.69 billion.
In July 2022 a trade of 225 million shares was recorded by the Hong Kong Clearing and Settlement agency. The apparent buyer, at least in nominee terms was Citibank.
And today, from Bloomberg via Yahoo Finance, a solid write-up of what's what:
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. trimmed its stake in BYD Co., just over a month after speculation the legendary US investor was preparing to shed his entire position in the Chinese carmaker sent its stock plummeting.
Berkshire cut its holding in BYD’s Hong Kong-listed shares to 19.92% from 20.04% on Aug. 24, according to an exchange filing Tuesday. That equated to around 1.33 million securities at an average HK$277.10 ($35.30) apiece, valued at about $47 million.
Theories about Buffett’s plans have swirled since a 20.49% stake -- identical to the size of Berkshire’s last reported BYD position in Hong Kong as of December -- entered the Central Clearing and Settlement System last month. The move triggered the biggest slump in BYD stock in nearly two years....
....MUCH MORE
Happy birthday Warren.
