- Berkshire Hathaway takes 2.49% stake that could grow to 9.9%
- Partnership to focus on reinsurance, strategic investments, and M&A
- Tokio Marine to repurchase shares to prevent dilution
- Berkshire has large stakes in five Japanese trading houses
TOKYO, March 23 (Reuters) - Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate built by Warren Buffett, is buying a 2.49% stake in Japanese insurer Tokio Marine Holdings for about $1.8 billion as part of a new strategic partnership, deepening its financial commitment to Japan.
Tokio Marine said on Monday it will sell about 48.2 million treasury shares to National Indemnity, one of Berkshire's main reinsurance businesses.
The companies plan to collaborate in reinsurance and work together globally on strategic investments including mergers and acquisitions.
National Indemnity will assume part of Tokio Marine's portfolio, and can boost its stake to 9.9% through open-market purchases without approval from Tokio Marine's board.
The Japanese insurer plans to use up to 287.4 billion yen of proceeds to repurchase its own shares to prevent dilution for existing shareholders.
Tokio Marine said the partnership adds "long-term and stable risk capacity" to help boost growth and mitigate underwriting volatility, particularly from natural catastrophes such as hurricanes. CEO Masahiro Koike added that Berkshire's corporate culture and values "closely align with ours."
Ajit Jain, Berkshire's vice chairman overseeing insurance operations, said in a statement he expected the partnership to create "compelling long-term opportunities for both organizations."
Tokio Marine was founded in 1879, and operates in dozens of countries and regions. National Indemnity and Berkshire are based in Omaha, Nebraska.
Berkshire has been investing in Japan since 2019, and built approximately 10% stakes in five major Japanese trading houses: Itochu, Marubeni, Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Sumitomo. Those stakes were worth $35.4 billion as of December 31, more than twice what Berkshire paid.
Greg Abel, who succeeded Buffett as Berkshire's chief executive on January 1, said in a February 28 shareholder letter he viewed Berkshire's Japanese investments as "comparable to our major U.S. holdings in importance and long-term value creation opportunity."
($1 = 158.55 yen)
Reporting by Anton Bridge, Chang-Ran Kim and Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus and Nia Williams
Source: Reuters