Grenville
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Posts posted by Grenville
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Buffett said he was in Charlotte to meet with BAC employees a short time ago.
Hi Redskin,
Do you know where I can find Buffett talking about a trip to meet with BAC employees? It's very interesting if he did.
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Actually Sanjeev lost since he predicted $7 billion returned to shareholders. We are only getting $5 billion back. The other $5.5 billion is to buyback debt. That is what a preferred really is. I don't consider it any different than what they have been doing all year or retiring long term debt.
I am quite disappointed here. A dividend increase would have attracted investors and paid me while I wait. $5 billion buyback does very little at their size and also since it is not a mandatory thing. They could decide to buyback only $3 billion if they find the price too high. What is too high for them?
Cardboard
The preferreds count towards capital, debt doesn't. I do agree that a div increase might pop the share up more, but they are improving the earnings power by getting rid of expensive after tax prefs.
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Nice! Glad to see them retire the prefs and the buyback. 10.5bln is a nice number!
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Here is the article for you...
http://lifehacker.com/5990456/google-reader-is-getting-shut-down-here-are-the-best-alternatives
I am trying to move over to NewsBlur but I think their website is being overloaded.
Cool! Thanks for the link. I was bummed about google pulling the plug on their offering.
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Good stuff.
from WSJ:
"Berkshire's BNSF Railway to Test Switch to Natural Gas"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324539404578342540494619344.html
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March 8 in the evening.
From the Q4 conference call:
"Then before I pass it back to Prem, I'd like to remind everyone that our Annual General Meeting will be held on Thursday, April the 11th, at 9:30 a.m. at Roy Thomson Hall. Details will be in the annual report on the last page, which will be published on March 8 in the evening.
So back to you, Prem."
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Just noticed this. Thanks for posting! Enjoyed this:
The best advice he’s ever been given? “Life’s very short. None of us is getting out of here alive, therefore we should go for it. Don’t try to play it safe because there is no safety. So follow your heart, follow your passions. Life will be a grand adventure and it will be a lot of fun.”
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Congratulations & Happy Anniversary!
It's hard to say where I'd be without the message board. It has allowed me to meet people who gave me the courage to follow my passion!
Thank you.
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- Munger talking about the embedded options in the public notice papers he bought for Daily Journal.
Would someone be kind enough to explain what CM meant by the above?
He referred to how when the bought the small newspapers at very low prices, they got a free option that if there was a foreclosure boom they would get extra returns from the public notice advertising that goes with it. He also said they didn't buy those papers at the time with the embedded option in mind. It's something that they got lucky with. Essentially my read on his response was that they didn't consider that option at all or give it any value when they bought the papers.
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That's pretty cool that Munger praised Mohnish. It's like getting a nice pat on the back by one of your heroes...and Munger doesn't throw out accolades very often! Cheers!
He also referred to Mohnish last year when answering a question about energy or commodities. I can't remember the specifics.
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Good number of topics covered in his tweets from yesterday:
(from the BYD thread)
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Nice little acquisition. Probably too early to say, but it looks like a nice holding company strategy of buying good businesses and letting them run independently in India's growth markets.
Thomas Cook India Acquires 74% Stake In Ikya Human Capital Solutions
"Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. has signed an investment agreement to acquire a 74 percent interest in Ikya Human Capital Solutions Pvt. Ltd.,a human resources staffing solutions company in India, for consideration of Rs.256 crore ($.47 million)."
"Managing Director Madhavan Menon said, "As one of the largest integrated travel services companies in the country, it is our strategy to invest in partnerships that broaden our business services platform to increase shareholder value. Ikya's wide range of HR services and sterling reputation, offer us a wonderful opportunity to extend the bouquet of travel, financial and HR services we offer to corporates across India."
He added, "Post the acquisition, Ikya would remain a stand-alone independently managed entity supervised by Thomas Cook (India), with the assistance of Fairbridge, and we are confident that their management team headed by Ajit Isaac will continue to grow its business for the benefit of all stakeholders. We will continue to focus and invest in the growth of our traditional travel-related businesses."
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some stock holdings are held as total return swaps and won't show up in the 13Fs. See Odyssey Re's NAIC filings
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Fairfax increases stake in SD to 32.7mln shares (12/31/12)
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/915191/000118143112067662/xslF345X03/rrd365127.xml
Fairfax purchases loan with warrants to Columbia Energy Resources (1/18/13)
"On January 18, 2013, Odyssey Reinsurance Company ("Odyssey"), a subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited ("Fairfax"), purchased $105,000 aggregate principal amount of the Issuer's 15% secured promissory notes due January 18, 2014 and warrants (the "Warrants") to purchase 8,381,725 shares of the Common Stock of the Issuer for cash consideration of $100,000. The Warrants may be exercised at any time, in whole or in part, at an exercise price of $0.01 per share of Common Stock."
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/915191/000118143113004126/xslF345X03/rrd367368.xml
From their website:
"Colombia Energy Resources, Inc. (“CERX”) is a metallurgical coal exploration and mining company operating in the Republic of Colombia, South America. We are building an integrated coal resource and processing company to extract and process high-value coal products for export. We have acquired coal deposits, are operating and building met coal mines and coke plants, and plan to become a leading consolidator in the Colombian met coal market.
We control four deposits with ten coal mining concessions covering almost 12,000 hectares (~29,600 acres). Preliminary geological analysis suggests low and mid-volatility hard coking coal in our core seams.1 We have active mining operations at our “Ruku” mining complex and an extensive exploration program underway on core properties to delineate resources and facilitate mine planning.1 We also plan to acquire additional concessions and mining operations and are evaluating several additional properties in Boyacá, Cundinamarca, Santander and Norte Santander.
We operate in Colombia through our wholly-owned subsidiary Colombia Clean Power S.A.S."
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Awesome! Thanks.
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Thought this was interesting.
Ronald Olson bought 2,500 BRK-Bs
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1067983/000118143112066401/xslF345X03/rrd364227.xml
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Sold to beat the coming tax hikes?
Most likely! And a nice public advertisement to any other large blocks of stock who now know they can lock in a 15% rate on a lifetime's worth of appreciation at 13x,000/share with a call to Omaha.
I hope there are more in the next few weeks.
Did not think about that. I hope other's bite!
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Berkshire just bought back 1.2bln! Wow, that's a large slug of shares.
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"Former Executive office building of the Berkshire Hathaway Company owned by the billionaire Warren Buffett. Beautiful mahogany and oak offices. Own a piece of history, this is where Warren Buffett started his fortune.
97 Cove St. New Bedford, MA 02744 Corner property on a busy street. South end of New Bedford. Close to beaches. Right off route 18. Minutes from downtown."
http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/14685222/97-Cove-St-New-Bedford-MA/
Found on Cove Street Capital website:
http://covestreetcapital.com/Blog/?p=793
I'm assuming this is where the operations were run from when the textile mills were bought.
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Davita being accused of a massive overbilling fraud...
http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/30/health/medicare-fraud-case/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
Thanks. Not the best PR for Davita.
+ The Vainer Private Civil Suit started in 2008 and covers Vitamin D and Iron Agents
+ The Woodward Private Civil suit that was started in 2007 was settled recently for 55mln recently and related to EPO dosages
+ I'm not a huge fan of the 100mln spent to build the new HQ in Colorado. I don't know if that's a lot for HQ but it seems a bit high. Thoughts?
+ Kent Thiry does get paid well
+ If the claims from the Vainer suit are true I don't understand why the government is not involved in supporting the litigation.
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Excellent Interview. I hope they post the remaining portion if there is more.
+ Checklists
+ Permanent capital
+ Behavioral finance
+ Fairholme Foundation
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WEB was on a radio show/podcast I listen to:
There is an extended version of the interview, but I can't find it on the website at the moment.
Just listened to the above link. It does sound like the full interview (~ 26min long).
Excellent interview with the two! Sound quality is awesome. It feels like the two are in the room with you. (I listened to the feed through the player on the website)
Interesting tidbits:
1. Coastal Energy investment that Buffett and Loomis made together when they first met that developed out of something in the footnotes. (anyone have any additional details?)
2. Warren said that at the upcoming AGM, he will have short sellers as one of the groups asking questions. He wants tougher questions and make the meeting more interesting for attendees.
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Awesome interview! Thanks for posting.
I enjoyed the part about how Warren says the story is in the footnotes.
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Nice interview! Thank you for posting. It's hard to beat Charlie Rose when it comes to an interviewer.
Interesting things they touched on in the interview:
+ Amazon web services growing faster than they even expected
+ Bezos talks about mental models when people think about Twitter and Facebook coexisting compared to one winning.
Also if there are more historical interviews with Bezos from 1999 to 2010 with Rose. I haven't watched the others, didn't realize there were more past 2009.
BAC Capital Plan Approved...JPM & Goldman Flagged
in General Discussion
Posted
Awesome! Thanks for the tip. I found it on Fox. Here's the link:
http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/2165570838001/warren-buffett-housing-market-is-getting-better/
In it he mentions talking to Brian Moynihan on the phone a couple of times during the preferred deal and a few times afterward. He goes on to mention visiting Charlotte to give a talk to some BofA employees.
Anyone know if Warren's done this at other investments like Wells Fargo, Amex or others?
I think it's great that Warren went and BofA is interested in listening to his thoughts and ideas.