June 28 (Portal) – Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) announced on Wednesday that it has acquired additional shares in Occidental Petroleum Corp (OXY.N), taking its stake in the oil company to over 25%.
The conglomerate, controlled by billionaire Warren Buffett, said in a regulatory filing that it paid about $122.1 million for 2.14 million Occidental shares between June 26 and June 28.
Berkshire had also purchased approximately 4.66 million shares of Occidental as of May 30.
Buffett’s company began buying shares in Houston-based company Occidental early last year, for example as Russia invaded Ukraine and oil prices soared.
The company also recently owned approximately $9.5 billion of Occidental preferred stock, which is paying an 8% dividend, and warrants to purchase an additional $5 billion of Occidental stock at $59.62 each . Berkshire bought the preferred stock and received the warrants in 2019 when it used to finance the purchase of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. contributed by Occidental.
At the May 6 annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, Buffett praised Occidental’s management and operations but said Berkshire has no plans to acquire the company.
“We’re not going to buy control,” Buffett said. “We have the right management running it.” Berkshire had acquired a 22.6% stake in the BNSF railroad before paying the $26.5 billion balance in 2010. BNSF now generates about a fifth of Berkshire’s operating profit.
Berkshire also owns dozens of other companies, including auto insurance company Geico and many energy, manufacturing, and retail companies, as well as stocks like Apple Inc (AAPL.O).
Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Edited by Sherry Jacob-Phillips
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