Warren Buffett led Berkshire Offloads More Shares in Chinese EV Giant BYD
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. trimmed its stake in BYD Co. even further, offloading another 1.72 million shares as of Sept. 1, according to an exchange filing Friday, just days after the legendary US investor began reducing his holding in China's biggest maker of electric vehicles.
Berkshire's interest in BYD's Hong Kong-listed shares has now fallen to 18.87% from 19.02%, with the latest securities sold for an average of HK$262.72 apiece, giving the stake a value of around HK$450.8 million ($57.5 million). That takes Berkshire's total shares jettisoned to 3.05 million, or 1.4% of Buffett's known 225-million-share holding.
Read more: Buffett Trims Stake in China's BYD, Spurring Bets More May Come
Theories about Buffett's plans for the bellwether Chinese electric car company have swirled since a 20.49% stake -- identical to the size of Berkshire's last reported BYD position in Hong Kong as of the end of June -- entered the Central Clearing and Settlement System in July, a sign to investors a sale may be imminent. That triggered the biggest slump in BYD stock in nearly two years.
“We may see some continued selling from Buffett,” Daisy Li, a fund manager at EFG Asset Management HK Ltd., said. “In the short term, it will be hard for investor sentiment surrounding BYD's Hong Kong shares to recover, while its shares listed onshore may be less affected. In the long term, the share performance will still depend on company fundamentals and product cycles.”
News of the actual first sale on Tuesday afternoon sparked renewed selling, with BYD stock falling almost 13%, before clawing back half almost half of the declines. The shares, which jumped 31% last year and an impressive 423% in 2020, are down 14% this year.
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