With Bank of America's dividend hike, Warren Buffett gets his chance at a $11 billion windfall
[...] Berkshire has warrants to buy 700 million common shares of Bank of America at $7.14 each, or about $5 billion. And Bank of America just did what Berkshire was waiting for: after passing the second of two annual stress tests by the Federal Reserve, it got the go-ahead to hike its annual dividend to 48 cents a share, or 12 cents a quarter, a 60 percent increase.
That is enough for Berkshire to consider exercising those warrants rather than waiting until just before their expiration in 2021. At Bank of America's current share price, the stake would hand Berkshire a tidy $11.7 billion profit, at least on paper. [...]
Berkshire Hathaway makes deal to win PUC approval of Oncor acquisition
Berkshire Hathaway has tentatively agreed with regulators and customer advocates to wall off Dallas-based utility Oncor from risks and debts of its parent company, a step that could help the conglomerate win approval for the $9 billion deal to acquire the largest utility in Texas and Oncor's bankrupt parent.
The move is aimed at protecting ratepayers from incurring costs not related to the distribution of electricity and ensuring that Oncor has the resources to maintain its transmission lines and the reliability of the system. Such concerns led the state Public Utility Commission to reject two earlier bids to buy Oncor and its parent, Energy Future Holdings, out of bankruptcy.
Late Thursday, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, a subsidiary of billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, said it would pay $9 billion to acquire Energy Future Holdings and Oncor, which provides electricity to 10 million Texans. Oncor owns and operates the grid for most of North Texas. Energy Future Holdings has been in bankruptcy for three years as it has worked to restructure its $40 billion debt.
Berkshire said it values Oncor at $11.25 billion. Another group may bid for Oncor, Bloomberg News reported Friday, citing unnamed sources. [...]
Berkshire Hathaway's Clayton Buys Oakwood Homes
Clayton Properties Group buys Oakwood Homes in a deal that closed Monday, July 3.
Oakwood is Clayton's 4th acquisition of a site-build home building operator, and the largest by far, of the deals, as well as the first one outside the Southeast region. [...]
Oakwood owns 3,000 to 4,000 lots, but has control of 18,000, which allows for continued accelerated growth with the capital access the Clayton deal will provide.
In Oakwood, and with Pat Hamill and his team continuing to run and grow the company, Clayton sees a strong cultural fit as well as a company that can help it on its strategic mission to expand its buyer universe with a price-range sweet spot between its $150,000 top price for its manufactured homes, and prevailing entry-level single-family price points, which tend to exceed $225,000. [...]
Clayton Buys Birmingham's Harris Doyle Homes
Clayton Properties Group will announce today the purchase of home building operator, Birmingham, Ala.-based Harris Doyle Homes.
The Clayton acquisition is the fifth site-build company added to the nation's largest manufactured home builder, whose market share is 50% of the category, which accounts for seven in 10 homes priced below $150,000.
Clayton's Harris Doyle announcement follows last week's closing of a deal to purchase Oakwood Homes, the Colorado-Utah home builder known as one of the most technologically progressed large enterprises. [...]
Sprint executives have engaged Warren Buffett about investment
Sprint Corp. Chairman Masayoshi Son has engaged Warren Buffett and cable mogul John Malone in discussions about participating in a deal with the wireless company, people familiar with the situation say.Warren Buffett casts big shadow in banking world
The Japanese billionaire met separately with the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. boss and Mr. Malone, whose Liberty Broadband Corp. is one of Charter Communications Inc.'s biggest investors, this week at an annual gathering of CEOs in Sun Valley, Idaho, the people said.
The contours of the deal the parties are discussing are unclear. The talks are at an early stage and may not result in an agreement, the people said, but one possibility would see Berkshire put more than $10 billion into a transaction. [...]
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is now the largest single shareholder of Bank of America — but that’s not the only piece of Wall Street he owns.
Buffett, 86, is also the biggest shareholder of Wells Fargo, with a little under 10 percent of the San Francisco bank, and US Bancorp, a Minneapolis bank that’s among the largest in the country.
In addition to those holdings, he’s also the seventh biggest owner of Goldman Sachs and Bank of New York Mellon — and the eighth largest shareholder of M&T Bank, a Buffalo bank with $16.5 billion in assets. [...]
