Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE:BRK.B) increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum to 20% - meaning Warren Buffet’s conglomerate could include the hydrocarbon explorer’s earnings in its own results.
A filing yesterday showed Berkshire Hathaway paid nearly US$381mln for 6.7mln shares, giving it 118.4mln shares in total worth US$11.3bn via an equity method of accounting, according to Reuters.
Analysts at Refinitiv I/B/E/S, cited by Reuters, expect Occidental to generate roughly US$10.5bn in profit this year - with some also predicting Berkshire could look to eventually bid for the entire company.
Berkshire already owned US$10bn of Occidental preferred stock and has warrants to buy a further 83.9mln common shares for US$5bn.
Shares in Occidental more than doubled this year due to rising oil prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Shares closed at US$60.04 yesterday.