Buffett Posts $1 Billion Profit on China Hybrid Carmaker BYD

By Bloomberg News

July 31 (Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. earned a $1 billion paper profit from an investment it agreed to make in Chinese carmaker BYD Co. less than a year ago.

The automaker has jumped fivefold in Hong Kong trading since the deal was announced on Sept. 27, helped by Buffett’s investment and rising demand for fuel-efficient vehicles. Three days earlier Berkshire agreed to an investment in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. that has since generated a paper profit of about $2 billion.

“When Warren Buffett says the sun shines out of somebody’s backside, it’s worth paying attention,” said Guy Spier, principal at New York-based hedge fund Aquamarine Funds LLC, who owns Berkshire shares and has researched BYD. Buffett is “betting on the jockey in this case,” Spier said, referring to BYD’s Chief Executive Officer Wang Chuanfu.

Berkshire’s MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. unit agreed to buy 225 million new shares of BYD for HK$8 apiece. That stock now has a market value of HK$9.66 billion ($1.25 billion), based on today’s closing price. Buffett will pay HK$1.8 billion.
BYD said last night it completed the sale. Buffett didn’t respond to a request for comment.

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Buffett Posts $1 Billion Profit on China Hybrid Carmaker BYD