Berkshire News Briefs - 6/9/14

Winning bidder for Buffett lunch from Singapore (Yahoo Singapore)

A man from Singapore on Friday bid $2,166,766 to win a private lunch with Warren Buffett, well below the record price but on par with other winning bids in recent years. It was the 15th annual online auction. The winner gets to spend several hours at lunch with Buffett, who leads Berkshire Hathaway and is known for his investing prowess and philanthropy. The auction benefits the Glide Foundation, which provides meals, health care, job training, rehabilitation and housing support to the poor and homeless in San Francisco.

Warren Buffett lunch winning bidder Andy Chua identified (Channel NewsAsia)

Mr Andy Chua made tongues wag when he put in a winning bid of US$2.17 million to dine with billionaire Warren Buffet. Little was revealed about the man by Glide Foundation except that he is a businessman from Singapore with a company called EMES, but Channel NewsAsia understands he is the chairman of AMES United, which runs a chain of beauty and grooming centres across Asia.

+++ Energy News +++

So much Energy News this week, that I'm giving it its own section...

Buffett’s $26 Billion Power Bet in West Seen Paying Off (Bloomberg Businessweek)

Warren Buffett’s $26 billion bet on western U.S. power plants, transmission lines and wind farms is poised to pay off. The energy unit of Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., with the help of California’s grid operator, is moving to unite the holdings under a single market capable of dispatching power across seven states every five minutes. The system, designed to handle sudden swings in supply and demand, would revolutionize the markets from Oregon to Nevada, where 38 transmission operators manually balance their territories on an hourly basis.

Buffett to Expand Energy Wager ‘As Far as the Eye Can See' (Bloomberg Businessweek)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which has struck deals to expand its utility business in Nevada and Western Canada, plans more investment in the industry, in part by betting on renewable power, ChairmanWarren Buffett said. “We’ve poured billions and billions and billions of dollars in retained earnings, and several billion of additional equity,” into the energy business, Buffett, 83, said today at the Edison Electric Institute’s annual convention in Las Vegas. “And we’re going to keep doing that as far as the eye can see.”

First Wind to Sell Solar Power From Utah to Buffett Unit (Bloomberg Businessweek)

First Wind Holdings Inc., a Boston-based renewable-energy developer, has agreed to sell power from seven Utah solar farms to a utility owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Four solar farms planned for Beaver County and three for Iron County will sell power to PacifiCorp, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, First Wind said today in a statement. Construction is expected to begin later this year and end by mid-2015. The projects, which combined will produce 20 megawatts, will power about 4,000 homes. Rocky Mountain Power, a unit of PacifiCorp, is buying the electricity under a 20-year contract.

Solar Star I and 2 on schedule (Recharge News)

Owner MidAmerican Solar and SunPower Corp have completed more than half of what will be the world’s largest solar array - the 579MW (AC) Solar Star I and 2 projects in California. Construction on the projects began in 2013 and is on schedule for completion by yearend 2015. Southern California Edison will purchase electricity from the projects under two long-term power purchase agreements. MidAmerican, part of billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway holding company, recently installed the project’s one millionth PV module.

Another SunPower Project at Nellis Base (Zacks)

SunPower Corp. has entered into an agreement with NV Energy, a unit of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., to construct a 19 megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV) power project at Nellis Air Force Base in southern Nevada. This new project will bring more clean energy to Nevada’s military base. [...] The company will start the construction of the plant in 2015 subject to approval from the Nevada's Public Utilities Commission. This agreement marks the second one of its kind between these two companies. Earlier, SunPower and NV Energy had constructed a 14-MW solar power project at the base in 2007.

+++ Other Subsidiary News +++

Energy time is over... on to insurance and Marmon!

On the Job: Noel helps lead Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance into travel insurance business (Stevens Point Journal)

AirCare is the first of several travel-protection products slated to be released over the next several months by Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection, which will operate under the leadership of John Noel. [...] In January, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance, part of the investment empire of billionaire Warren Buffett, reached an agreement with Stevens Point-based Noel Group to purchase two of its divisions, MyAssist and Insure America. MyAssist is a personal assistance and telematics service provider, while Insure America LLC provides insurance products to the travel industry. Noel, the founder, chairman and CEO of Noel Group, continues to head the MyAssist and Insure America operations.

Gen Re Names Rotatori CEO, Clark to Become President (Claims Journal)

Gen Re, a Berkshire Hathaway Company, announced several planned organizational changes prompted by Gerard Lynch’s announcement that he will be retiring December 31, 2014. Lynch has been chairman and CEO since founding New England Asset Management (NEAM) in 1984. Effective immediately, the company’s current president, William Rotatori, was promoted to chief executive officer and Chip Clark was appointed to president. Lynch will remain chairman until his retirement, at which point he will become non-executive chairman.

TSE Brakes Reveals New Logo, Website As Part Of Rebranding Effort (Aftermarket News)

TSE Brakes, a Marmon Highway Technologies/Berkshire Hathaway Co., has unveiled a new logo, website (www.tsebrakes.com) and supporting materials as part of an ongoing rebranding effort. [...] Founded more than 50 years ago, TSE says it has fostered a customer-first commitment while maintaining a singular focus on becoming one of the heavy-duty industry's leading spring brake manufacturers. Today, as a Marmon Highway Technologies/Berkshire Hathaway company, TSE Brakes is investing significant resources in R&D as it strives to develop the next industry-leading actuation technology.

Berkshire News Briefs - 3/10/14

Several members of the Berkshire Hathaway Leadership team went on CNBC Monday morning. Warren Buffett, Ted Weschler, Todd Combs, and Tracy Britt Cool were all there. CNBC posted the transcript in this PDF. There's some good info in there, especially in the second half when they start talking to Ted and Todd. I like this bit, in reference to my reading backlog...

BECKY QUICK: [...] We are here in Omaha because-- Berkshire Hathaway's annual letter-- Warren Buffett's annual letter to the shareholders went out on Saturday morning. And, Warren, we've spent some time digesting-- a large annual letter.

WARREN BUFFETT: I get paid by the word.

25 Must-Read Quotes from Warren Buffett's Letter to Shareholders (Fool)

"Forming macro opinions or listening to the macro or market predictions of others is a waste of time. Indeed, it is dangerous because it may blur your vision of the facts that are truly important. (When I hear TV commentators glibly opine on what the market will do next, I am reminded of Mickey Mantle's scathing comment: "You don't know how easy this game is until you get into that broadcasting booth.")

Berkshire Hathaway buys AA Party Rentals (The Herald of Everett WA)

I do so love these little tuck-in acquisitions.

AA Party Rentals with locations in Mountlake Terrace and Tacoma was acquired by nationwide events company CORT in a deal anounced Thursday. AA Party Rentals has been providing rental equipment and services in the greater Seattle and Tacoma markets for more than 40 years. [...] CORT is a Berkshire Hathaway company.

Buffett’s Berkshire Reaches $300 Billion Market Cap (WSJ)

Warren Buffett didn’t grow Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s net worth faster than gains in the S&P 500 index over the last five years, but the gigantic conglomerate recently crossed another milestone: passing the $300 billion mark in market capitalization for the first time. [...] Berkshire is already among the top 10 largest U.S. companies by market capitalization, and in recent years, has made the top-five list often. At $300 billion, its position among America’s most-valuable companies doesn’t change much. On Friday afternoon, Apple topped the list with $475 billion; followed by Google with $409 billion, Exxon Mobil close on its heels with $405 billion; Microsoft at fourth place, and ahead of Berkshire, at $316 billion.

The Best Warren Buffett Coverage You Haven't Read (Fool)

A link to more links!

For value investing disciples around the world, the annual release of the Berkshire Hathaway Letter to Shareholders is an interesting mix of fanaticism, jubilation, conversation, and conjecture. For those of us who just can't get enough, here are three reads you probably haven't seen that are interesting and uniquely insightful into the Oracle of Omaha's mind.

Here's Why Warren Buffett Is Betting Big on Renewable Energy (Fool)

Buffett's success is also his ability to acknowledge that sometimes things do change and that new competitive advantages can and must be built. MidAmerican Energy has been doing just that for the past nine years, working with companies like Siemens, SunPower, and Vestas to add renewable energy to its mix in a big way. Renewables are becoming a huge -- and growing -- part of Berkshire's competitive advantage at MidAmerican.

Brokerages to Join the New Real Estate Network During 2014's Second and Third Quarters (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, the new real estate brokerage network operated by HSF Affiliates LLC, today announced the signing of 22 additional affiliates to the network. Several signees come from Prudential Real Estate’s Gibraltar Circle of Top 50 brokerages based on overall production. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices now accounts for more than 26,000 agents and 700 offices in 33 states since it began transitioning affiliates in September.

Canada Tomato Law Saves Former Heinz Plant From Buffett Closing (MoneyNews)

A bit unfair to call this a "Buffett Closing"...

Canada’s insistence that tomato juice be extracted from “sound, ripe, whole” tomatoes instead of paste — a higher standard than in the U.S. — has partially saved an H.J. Heinz Co. plant marked for closing by Warren Buffett’s private-equity partner. A group of Ontario investors announced last week they plan to run the century-old plant and take over producing and distributing tomato juice for Heinz in the Canadian market. The move spared 250 of the 740 workers slated to lose their jobs in Leamington, Ontario, widely known as the tomato capital of Canada.

Berkshire spends $77 million to add to DaVita stake (NASDAQ)

Berkshire Hathaway is still buying up shares of DaVita. Most recently, Warren Buffett's firm bought 1,159,858 shares of the company's common stock on Feb. 24 for $66.58 per share. All told, Berkshire paid $77,679,440 to increase its holdings by 3.2%.