Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway reveals new $7 billion stake in Swiss insurer Chubb
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is disclosing a new $7 billion stake in fellow insurer Chubb
OMAHA, Neb. — Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway on Wednesday revealed a new $7 billion stake in fellow insurer Chubb.
Berkshire disclosed the investment it has been building over the past nine months in a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Buffett's conglomerate had received permission to keep the Chubb investment confidential while it was still buying.
Berkshire said it held nearly 26 million Chubb shares at the end of March, giving it a 6.4% stake in the company. Chubb shares jumped more than 7% in after-hours trading to sell for $271.82 after Berkshire’s investment was revealed.
Many investors follow Berkshire's portfolio closely because of Buffett's remarkably successful track record over the decades, and some will certainly speculate that Berkshire could one day buy all of Chubb.
Berkshire owns many other companies — including BNSF railroad, a number of utilities and an assortment of manufacturing and retail companies — but insurers, like Geico and General Reinsurance, have always been at the core of the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate. So it makes sense that another insurer like Zurich-based Chubb might appeal to Buffett.
CFRA Research analyst Cathy Seifert said in a note to investors that Chubb is now one of the 10 biggest holdings in Berkshire's portfolio. “We can’t speculate whether Berkshire would pursue an outright acquisition of CB, but we note their business mixes are highly complementary," Seifert wrote.
The quarterly filing doesn't say clearly whether Buffett or one of Berkshire's two other investment managers made the Chubb investment, but Buffett generally handles all the
Read more on abcnews.go.com
