John Hjorth

Petec, I'm not entitled to reply on behalf of SharperDingaan - he is certainly capable of doing that for himself. I'll just mention here, that personally I read SharperDingaan's last post in this topic as a reference to the terms of the bonds, that DB is rumored to be buying back at the moment [most likely at a loss for the sellers], compared to buying DB preferred - at an earlier moment. Oh so did I and I agree with everything he wrote. My point (poorly expressed perhaps) is that I see the extraordinary reaching for yield that drives demand for these daft securities (what SD referred to as desperation) as being purely down to some incredibly poor government/central bank policy. And yes, before anyone asks, that does mean I think we need to take some deflationary (in the broad bubble sense, not the broad CPI sense) pain and central banks need to allow that. Petec, Thanks for elaboration, I understand your position on this now.

Added today to my "probe" of LUND B.ST [L E Lundberg Företagen AB ser. B, Sweden] from the beginning of November '15 [about six fold], so that it is now about 1,2% of total portfolio.

Their clients are going to start referring to them as Goldman Sucks. Boilermaker, You just made my day!

Petec, I'm not entitled to reply on behalf of SharperDingaan - he is certainly capable of doing that for himself. I'll just mention here, that personally I read SharperDingaan's last post in this topic as a reference to the terms of the bonds, that DB is rumored to be buying back at the moment [most likely at a loss for the sellers], compared to buying DB preferred - at an earlier moment.

Deutsche Bundesbank : Europe at the crossroads Guest contribution by François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Banque de France, and Jens Weidmann, President of the Bundesbank published in Le Monde and in Süddeutschen Zeitung on 8 February 2016 : https://www.bundesbank.de/Redaktion/EN/Standardartikel/Press/Contributions/2016_02_08_weidmann_galhau.html?startpageId=Startseite-EN&startpageAreaId=Teaserbereich&startpageLinkName=2016_02_08_weidmann_galhau+361962

Ohh, well! : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/12146421/Credit-Suisse-boss-asks-board-to-cut-his-bonus-after-big-loss.html

This board is about making money by value investing, and cooperation by discussion to get better at it [making money by value investing]. Personally and right now, I consider it a better trade off to move on without reading your personal [at least to me: biased] comments like the above. It's about not knowing all positions of fellow active and contributing board members, and respect. Recent posts in ZINCK-topic comes to mind about concluding, with mutual respect - We are all humans here on board. Likely I will miss out on some good comments and considerations from you. I will live with that, to avoid what I don't like in your posts recently. Recently I read a post on this board from a member on this board "taking pleasure" in things going wrong for Ackman. I don't understand that line of posting on this board, nor do I have the will to try [ref. what I wrote above what this board is about]. Specifically I asked ni-co to start this topic, because ni-co is short SAN [from what I have read so far from ni-co - reasons, that I can't turn down right now [likely not at all], and that makes an impression], and I'm long SAN [a lot]. This is what this board is about : Getting better by discussion and related reasoning. Actually, I hold ni-co's starting post very high, he might be helping me as a short, while I'm long right now. Disclosure : 5 largest positions right now, calculated based on Friday close : Cash : 36,4%, BRK : 12,1%, SAN : 7.9%, Novo Nordisk A/S [NOVO. CPH] [uS ADR : NVO] : 6.0%, MKL : 5.0%. Time to get to work on this. I will wait for the disclosure of the full financial statements for SAN 2015 at the end of February 2016, and I will tear it apart to atoms [exactly a bean counter job], and I will report back here on board.

Thank you. Done. See this thread. Thank you for the topic split, ni-co. I think it's important [- at least for me].

ni-co, Thank you for a very good post here. Actually, I think investing in European banks nowadays could deserve it's own separate topic in the General Discussion forum, so I suggest that you repost your last post above as a starting post in a separate topic.

Please don't slap me while I'll continue - week by week - going forward, in small drips, one by one - to buy what I consider quality stuff, in the aim of getting [still] a lot of cash to work. I knew there was someone raising prices on the stuff I wanted to buy. Jurgis, I'm not even trying to be arrogant, [trying to out]smart [you], nor even trying to be patronizing here: Quite a few of your posts on here lately does not make much sense [at last to me], ref. your plan to start indexing. If you suffer from burnout [ref. one of your own posts lately], personally I would take a break from this [investing][again: I'm not trying to patronize you here].

Please don't slap me while I'll continue - week by week - going forward, in small drips, one by one - to buy what I consider quality stuff, in the aim of getting [still] a lot of cash to work. Darth Wader is not my God.

Added to Novo Nordisk A/S [NOVO.CPH] this morning [uS ADR: NVO]. It dropped about 5 percent on the disclosure of results for FY 2015.

Ref. : "Hang in there" : The [not so] poor Norwegian people getting less rich by every second right now : The algorithm at the website for Statens Pensionsfond Utland is very busy right now adjusting the total portfolio value downwards : www.nbim.no

Would you mind sharing your rationale for buying Sampo (not that it is a large position for you)? From valuation perspective, trades at a premium to it's part even if you are quote generous on the values of IF and Mandatum. Unless they get same kind of rabbit out of their hat as they did with Danske Bank, I don't see the risk/reward as very good at these levels. So I'm curious as to what made you increase the position, if you don't mind sharing. Ps. Just to correct a typo, ticker is SAMAS, not HAMAS :) Thanks for the note about the ticker! - now fixed in the original post. Yes, certainly not cheap at these levels, I just wanted to get a bit more of it, after buying a bit a few years ago, before the runup. I really regret not buying a lot more at that moment, and judged now was the time for it, after the minor drop. Bjørn Wahlroos basicly hasen't done any material transactions for long now, I expect to get surprised - in a postive way - at some time in the future. He seems quite opportunistic to me, if one reads up about what he has done so far. Sampo will eventually end up with +50% going to 100% ownership of Topdanmark A/S [TOP.CPH] - one way or another - because TOP is returning capital to shareholders only by share buybacks. [As a TOP shareholder also I'm quite desperate about that fact in the long run]. This is an ultra term position for the family. I can't right now imagine what would provoke a decision to sell. Most likely the position will end up at third generation alive right now at some time in the future.

The deal announced completed on January 29th 2016: http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/news/JAN2916.pdf .

Added today to a small position in Sampo Plc A [sAMAS.HE] [up approx. 30%, from 0.82% to 1.07%] [Edit : Fixed ticker, ref. post by 60°North Investments]

Surely, good old Uncle Warren wouldn't abuse his position to keep rooftop solar from spreading? Don't you know he only invests in businesses with durable competitive advantages, so that just couldn't be what's happening. Well, I guess that running a highly regulated business just means that lobbying is part of managing and running the business. Mr. Buffett has several times in his shareholder letters written about a "social contract" with society in which the company operates. BRK has so far commited about USD 25B to wind power and solar power. Just take a look at the german energy companies E.ON and RWE to see what happens "when a social contract is not any longer needed". [it's about nuclear power in the first place [after the Japaneese TEPCO incident], and now also coal powered plants].

Entertaining [biased?] read from Bloomberg with the title : "Who owns the sun?" [buffett or Musk] - about NV Energy: http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-solar-power-buffett-vs-musk/ The ending part made me chuckle:

The PCP aquisition expected to close on January 29th 2016 : www.berkshirehathaway.com/news/JAN2516.pdf .

Would be interested to hear more about your business, if you don't mind sharing. Where do you find clients etc? Also: Is Muscleman on your payroll, in case of defaults? [J/K]

[J/K] I do not recall any of my electronic devices falling out at some time in 1859. Maybe I'm just fading mentally, or I'm in an early stage stage of Alzheimers - ref. my signature here on board... [/J/K] Do you mean 1959, or what? Here we have a rule of never leaving home without some kind of cash pocket money in the wallet, what is considered an appropriate figure [and currency] depends on what's planned to happen. Cardboard is entirely correct... Look it up on the interweb... I didn't want to bring this up (yet), as I didn't want to come across as an alarmist. OK, got it, thanks : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859

[J/K] I do not recall any of my electronic devices falling out at some time in 1859. Maybe I'm just fading mentally, or I'm in an early stage stage of Alzheimers - ref. my signature here on board... [/J/K] Do you mean 1959, or what? Here we have a rule of never leaving home without some kind of cash pocket money in the wallet, what is considered an appropriate figure [and currency] depends on what's planned to happen.

Added today to: BRK.B SAN MKL NOVO B.CPH [corresponding US ADR: NVO]

Yeah, right: http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/general-discussion/cheap-stocks/ And before you start to sing the "historically high margins" song again - I've heard it, no need, most of these companies don't have historically high margins. Also a lot of them already had declining sales last year, so no, not cycle top. Have fun Jurgis, What do you consider as your investment universe, as a base of your post above? Can you clarify your question? I invest in everything. :) Some preference to high ROE "Buffettology" stocks. I was thinking if you had geografical preferences, perhaps based on currency considerations. Thanks for the elaboration.

Yeah, right: http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/general-discussion/cheap-stocks/ And before you start to sing the "historically high margins" song again - I've heard it, no need, most of these companies don't have historically high margins. Also a lot of them already had declining sales last year, so no, not cycle top. Have fun Jurgis, What do you consider as your investment universe, as a base of your post above?