{"id":314045,"date":"2010-02-12T00:34:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-12T05:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087194156628161158.post-4605722619138355807"},"modified":"2010-02-12T11:20:15","modified_gmt":"2010-02-12T16:20:15","slug":"the-street-com-buffett-becomes-biggest-munich-re-buyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/314045","title":{"rendered":"THE STREET.COM: Buffett Becomes Biggest Munich Re Buyer"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Eric Rosenbaum<\/span> <\/span> <\/span>02\/12\/10 – 10:14 AM EST<\/span><\/p>\n

OMAHA, Neb. (TheStreet<\/a>) — Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway<\/b>(BRK.B Quote<\/a>)<\/span> are now the biggest shareholders in Munich Re, eclipsing the previously biggest stake in the reinsurance company held by money manager BlackRock<\/b>(BLK Quote<\/a>)<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Last month, Berkshire Hathaway revealed that it had built a 3% stake in Munich Re. <\/p>\n

Buffett isn’t done yet, either, in building up his stake in Munich Re. A regulatory filing indicates that Berkshire Hathaway has options on another 2% of Munich Re that can be exercised by March 11, taking Berkshire’s holding in the reinsurer to 7%. <\/p>\n

Munich Re management said they do not view the big recent moves from Buffett into their stock as a hostile maneuver. <\/p>\n

Buffett already owns 3% of Swiss Re, and Berkshire Hathaway has a long-time strategy of using the spread between the cost of insurance premiums and the return on equity from reinvestment of premium income to generate profits for Berkshire <\/a> investors. <\/p>\n

Berkshire also announced in January that it had acquired for, $1.3 billion, a block of reinsurance premiums from Swiss Re in the range of $50 billion to $60 billion. <\/p>\n

While Munich Re does not view the move as hostile — and street analysts have concurred with this view — Berkshire also began its investment in Burlington Northern<\/b>(BNI Quote<\/a>)<\/span> with a an 11% stake in April 2007, and is in now in the final stages of acquiring the railroad operator. <\/p>\n

Longtime Berkshire investors have also been wondering whether the Burlington deal with be the last major M&A move of Buffett’s career<\/a>, or if the Oracle of Omaha has another big surprise in store for shareholders in the coming years. <\/p>\n

— Reported by Eric Rosenbaum in New York. <\/i> <\/p>\n


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