Berkshire News Briefs - 8/26/13

Here's What Berkshire Hathaway Bought Last Quarter (Fool) http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/08/15/heres-what-...

So what jumps out right away from Berkshire's latest buys? First, the company opened two brand-new positions, including one in satellite TV provider DISH Network, and another in Suncor Energy, Canada's largest oil and natural gas producer. While the DISH position is relatively small, representing only 0.03% of Berkshire's total portfolio at the end of the second quarter, the half a billion-dollar bet on Suncor is sure to raise some eyebrows, worth nearly $595 million at its recent price of $33.44 per share. What's more, Berkshire made some other big additions to existing positions, including a 60% boost in its General Motors stake to 40 million shares, currently worth more than $1.38 billion. [...] "Confidential information has been omitted from the public Form 13F report and filed separately with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission." Translation? Berkshire probably already made an even bigger buy that the public doesn't know about... yet.

MiTek Acquires Benson Industries, LLC (Building Online)

MiTek Industries, the world's leading supplier of advanced engineered structural connector systems, equipment, software and services for the building components industry announced today that it has acquired Benson Industries, LLC. Benson is the global leader in the design, pre-fabrication and installation of custom unitized curtain wall systems for high-end commercial, hotel, residential, governmental, and institutional buildings worldwide. MiTek is a subsidiary of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. "The acquisition of Benson extends MiTek's product offering into the global high-rise commercial building construction market. Benson is a terrific addition to the MiTek family," stated Tom Manenti, Chairman and CEO of MiTek.

Buffett invests in Suncor (Morning Ledger)

In a sense, Buffett may have thrown himself into a hot environmental debate. The prevention of oil sands expansion is one of the most significant reasons that environmentalists are urging President Barack Obama to reject the Keystone XL pipeline, which is a controversial project valued at $5.3 billion that is set to carry oil from Alberta, Canada, down to the Gulf Coast. [...] Now a major player in the debate, Buffett and his investment are being criticized. Aside from the politics, Buffett bought the stock to help ensure a steady supply of oil for his BNSF railroad to transport. [...] Suncor is considered to be well run and owns large tracts of oil sands resources from which the oil production, despite the objections of the environmental groups, will continue to grow.

Buffett's railway line to invest $300m in Plains states oil haulage expansion (Stock House)

BNSF Railway Co., a transport company owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A, Stock Forum), said it was investing more than $300 million to improve railway systems in the northern Plains states, which host major oil deposits. The rail company said it plans to invest $115 million on rail projects in Montana this year. This includes the replacement of nearly 100 miles of rail. A $220 million investment in North Dakota finances the replacement of about 315 miles of rail this year.

Burlington Northern Issues $1.5 Billion of Bonds in Two Parts (Bloomberg)

Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC issued $1.5 billion in a two-part bond sale, its first offering in five months. The railroad that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. bought in 2010 sold $800 million of 3.85 percent, 10-year notes that yield 117 basis points more than similar-maturity Treasuries and $700 million of 5.15 percent, 30-year securities at 140 basis points more than benchmarks, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Union sues BNSF over contract on short line (Omaha World-Herald)

A labor union representing railroad workers has sued BNSF Railway, saying the unit of Omaha's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is violating a collective bargaining agreement covering a handful of employees on a Nebraska short line. [...] The suit says BNSF is not honoring the union contract on a Nebraska short rail line that runs from Iowa Ferry, near South Sioux City, to O'Neill, about 100 miles away. Such lines typically employ fewer than a couple of dozen workers.

Lubrizol opens additives plant in China (Trade Only Today)

Lubrizol Corp. is opening an additives manufacturing facility in Zhuhai, Guangdong, China, the company’s latest investment in China. Construction on the 400,000-square-meter (1.41-million-square-foot) site began in October 2010. The plant will offer select additive component manufacturing and additive package blending. [...] The site also includes a Zhuhai research, development and testing lab in support of Lubrizol's engine oils, driveline, industrial and fuel additive businesses and is part of the company's global technical network of labs and experts. The lab will support field testing in local vehicles under local conditions in China, generating performance data in support of Lubrizol customers.

An uplifting celebration of Chinese firm's new plant (Omaha World-Herald)

BYD Inc. knows how to stage a ribbon-cutting. The Chinese electric vehicle company, which is 10 percent owned by Omaha conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc., recently celebrated opening its battery-powered forklift assembly plant in Shaoguan Industrial Park, in Guangdong province north of Hong Kong. [...] Wang said BYD's New Energy forklift — the world's first to use iron batteries — are the future for industrial forklifts, as well as being emission-free and fast-charging. When the batteries wear out, they can be converted to energy storage, BYD said, without the heavy-metal waste of lead-acid batteries.

Prudential Fox & Roach sold to Warren Buffett company (Montgomery News)

Prudential Fox & Roach, Realtors, and its subsidiary, The Trident Group, have been acquired by HomeServices of America Inc., an affiliate of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. [...] Headquartered in Devon, Prudential Fox & Roach, is the fifth largest provider of brokerage and related services in the United States, according to a release announcing the acquisition. The Trident Group comprises financial services companies including Trident Mortgage Co., Trident Insurance and Trident Land Transfer Co. Prudential Fox & Roach is the largest Realtor in the tri-state Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware region and the largest single market residential real estate brokerage in the U.S. with more than 4,000 sales associates in 62 offices.

Buffett Tops Reese Witherspoon as Charity Auction Draw (Bloomberg)

Warren Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., drew a top offer of $118,000 for an all-you-can-eat tour of a See’s Candies factory, with less than 3 hours left in the charity auction. [...] Buffett is among celebrities who are supporting auctions to benefit Communities in Schools of Los Angeles, a high school dropout-prevention program. The top offer for lunch with actress Reese Witherspoon was $6,000.

Berkshire News Briefs - 8/10/13

TTI acquires assets of NPCS Autotronics (evertiq)

TTI, Inc. an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, acquired the assets of NPCS Autotronics Co. Ltd. Based in Shanghai, China, NPCS Autotronics is a specialty distributor of connector products used in the transportation market segment. The company is an official distributor of Delphi Connection Systems.

Warren Buffett could soon own the largest energy holding company in the U.S. (Mother Nature Network)

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett sees dollar signs in Nevada. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has made a $10 billion offer to acquire NV Energy, Inc., a deal that would create what has been called the largest utility holding company in the U.S. [...] MidAmerican Energy Holdings already owns several large energy and utility companies, including namesake MidAmerican Energy Company, MidAmerican Renewables, PacifiCorp and Northern Natural Gas. NV Energy has two main subsidiaries, Nevada Power Company and Sierra Pacific Power Company, both of which operate under the NV brand name. The deal, if approved by regulators, would add another 2.4 million customers to Berkshire Hathaway's energy rolls.

"This Time" Is Never Different for Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway (Fool)

Friday's Wall Street Journal featured an article detailing Warren Buffett's increasingly difficult task of allocating Berkshire Hathaway's massive cash pile toward multibillion-dollar acquisitions. While many of the conglomerate's recent purchases have been small nominally, the results have been outsized and continue to add to Berkshire Hathaway's already gigantic equity base.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Adds Five More Brokerage Signees (MarketWatch / Business Wire)

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, the new real estate brokerage network operated by HSF Affiliates LLC, today announced the signing of five additional brokerage companies for the network. The companies - Prudential Ambassador Real Estate, Omaha, NE; Prudential California Realty, Rancho Cucamonga, CA; Prudential Colorado Properties, Vail, CO; Prudential Real Estate of the Rockies, Denver, CO; and Prudential Preferred Homes (with Parkersburg Realty and Landmark REALTORS(R)), Parkersburg, WV - will begin operating as Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices affiliates later this year and in early 2014.

Berkshire Sells $1 Billion of Bonds in First Offering Since May (Bloomberg Businessweek)

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. issued its first bonds in three months with a $1 billion, two-part offering. Berkshire’s $600 million of 0.95 percent, three-year securities priced to yield 37 basis points more than similar-maturity Treasuries and $400 million of 2 percent, five-year notes pay a relative yield of 65 basis points, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The bonds are expected to be rated Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service and will be used to repay debt.

Southwest Greens Launches New Bolt™ Fiber (PRWeb)

Southwest Greens International, a division of Shaw Industries, a Berkshire Hathaway company and one of the leading synthetic turf companies in North America, announced today the launch of Bolt™, its newest fiber innovation which is highlighted by a cutting-edge shape designed for increased performance and durability. [...] Engineered to handle the demands of a high-traffic sports surface, Bolt features a patent-pending, lightning bolt-shaped fiber which creates a stronger vertical axis that causes the fibers to stand upright for greater resiliency and increased durability. In fact, Bolt exceeds the most stringent industry standard for simulated wear twice over. Additionally, Bolt’s unique cross section features curved angles reflecting light for lower luster and a more natural looking lawn.

Berkshire Hathaway 2Q 2013 Report

Berkshire Hathaway Reports 2nd Quarter 2013 Earnings

2nd Quarter 2013 10-Q

Earnings Announcement

Since the beginning of the year, Berkshire’s shareholders’ equity has increased $14.4 billion and our book value per Class A equivalent share has increased by 7.6% to $122,900 as of June 30, 2013. The increase in shareholders’ equity is net of a reduction in Berkshire’s shareholders’ equity of approximately $1.2 billion (about $730 per Class A equivalent share). The reduction, which does not reflect economic results, relates to purchases of the shares in Iscar not previously owned and purchases of additional shares in Marmon during the second quarter.

Berkshire Hathaway net income up 46 percent in 2nd quarter (Omaha World-Herald)

"Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s net income grew 46 percent in the second quarter this year to $4.54 billion, or $2,763 per share, the biggest boost coming from a turnaround in its derivative investments.

Operating earnings, which measure profits by Omaha-based Berkshire’s 80-plus businesses, totaled $3.92 billion, or $2,384 per share, a 5.3 percent increase from last year.

Investments gained $332 million, compared with $81 million in the second quarter of 2012. Derivatives, which are insurance-like contracts whose value varies widely in accounting for corporate finance, gained $300 million during the quarter, compared with a $693 million decline a year ago.

Total revenue for the three-month period that ended June 30 was $44.7 billion, up 15.9 percent from a year earlier. Railroad and utility revenue totaled $8.4 billion, and insurance and other businesses contributed $34.8 billion. [...]

Berkshire said shareholder equity gained $14.4 billion from the start of 2013, with a per-share book value gain of 7.6 percent to $122,900."

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway 2Q profit up 46 pct (Chicago Tribune)

"Meanwhile, pretax underwriting gains more than doubled at the Geico car insurance unit to $336 million, as premiums earned grew by 11 percent while underwriting expenses fell.

This helped offset a drop in underwriting gains in reinsurance operations, including General Re, which resulted in part from catastrophe losses tied to European floods. [...]

Berkshire's cash stake shrank during the quarter to $35.7 billion from $49.1 billion.

This largely reflected Berkshire's decision to spend about $12.3 billion in June toward the purchase with Brazilian firm 3G Capital of ketchup maker H.J. Heinz Co."

Berkshire News Briefs - 8/4/13

MiTek Acquires Benson Industries, LLC (BusinessWire)

MiTek Industries (MiTek), a Berkshire Hathaway company, and the world’s leading supplier of advanced engineered structural connector systems, equipment, software and services for the building components industry announced today that it has acquired Benson Industries, LLC. Benson is the global leader in the design, pre-fabrication and installation of custom unitized curtain wall systems for high-end commercial, hotel, residential, governmental, and institutional buildings worldwide. MiTek is a subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. [...] Benson was founded in 1926 in Portland, Oregon. Over the past three decades, Benson’s unrivaled engineering, assembly and project management capabilities have earned them praise and recognition for some of the world’s most prominent curtain wall projects, including One World Trade Center and the re-cladding of the United Nations Secretariat in New York City, and Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. Benson has offices and operations in multiple countries around the world.

Dairy Queen ranks among nation's largest quick-service chains (Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal)

Dairy Queen is the nation's 18th largest quick-service restaurant chain, according to QSR Magazine's latest QSR 50 ranking. Edina-based American Dairy Queen Corp., a subsidiary of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, had 2012 U.S. systemwide sales of $2.3 billion. Its 4,459 locations generated average sales of $545,000 last year. (All but three locations are franchised.)

STB orders BNSF to delay asset revaluation from Berkshire acquisition (Progressive Railroading)

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) late last week took several actions to delay the revaluation of BNSF Railway Co.'s assets, in part because Berkshire Hathaway Inc. purchased BNSF in 2010 "without prior board authorization," STB officials said in a press release. The board reaffirmed that Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), which must be followed in rail carrier acquisitions, permit the revaluation of BNSF's assets. But because of the unique circumstances of the BNSF transaction, the STB directed the Class I to transition the revaluation over seven years to reduce the possible impact on captive shippers.

Here's When We Are Bailing and Dumping Shares of Berkshire Hathaway (Fool Video)

In this segment from The Motley Fool's everything-financials show, Where the Money Is, host Alison Southwick asks financial analysts Matt Koppenheffer and David Hanson when they would consider shares of Berkshire Hathaway to be too pricey and no longer attractive.

Warren Buffett: Breaking Bad's Biggest Fan (Vanity Fair)

How much does Warren Buffett love Breaking Bad? So much that he incorporated a Breaking Bad parody—featuring himself, and series stars Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul—in the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders' meeting this year, replacing the show's coveted product, crystal meth, with peanut brittle (Berkshire Hathaway owns See's candy company). And so much that last night, the 82-year-old investor crashed Breaking Bad's N.Y.C. premiere, reports Variety.