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Fairfax has been up every day since Berkshire announced the Alleghany deal. MKL has had a strong run as well, although I guess MKL's move started before Berkshire announced Y.

I think Warren and Charlie have enjoyed reading specialist trade magazines for many decades - stuff like American Banker and similar for a bunch of different industries. Fortune, Forbes and Barrons used to be sometimes helpful and can still be occasionally interesting - but you aren't going to learn much from those types of titles. Maybe an interesting interview every once in a while. The internet has helped lots of stuff rise to attention, so if there is a valuable or interesting interview somewhere - chances are people will be talking about it. Even stuff the RH CEO says on a conference call gets passed around instantly these days so it doesn't seem necessary to subscribe to general business magazines. I do still read them when I visit my Mother as she always has Fortune and Forbes in the bathroom. Bloomberg purchased business week and I only got that one for a year or so in connection with a separate subscription to Bloomberg. It wasn't something I missed when it stopped arriving.

Yeah, that's what I've been using for something like 15 years as well. The desktop Java application, "Classic TWS." Works fine on a Mac, handles as many monitors as you want, and totally configurable to look and behave however you want it to.

Try searching “Buffett back in the batting after 6-year deal drought” or some subset of that on google news.

Was it $7 million? https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000276720/000095012310072361/c04363e8vk.htm Sounded on the most recent call that a buyback is not in the cards this year. "I can't have my cake and eat it too just yet." They are negotiating with land owners for potential M&A and they seem to really like to manage their cash carefully despite having visibility to at least $16m of reimbursements coming back in the near term. At least they were willing to finance 100% of the construction costs of the rental homes by rolling their finished lots into the equity portion (and instantly making 200k per home that doesn't show up in the financials). I like that Mark is very honest on the calls. Not overly promotional, not defensive, just answers each question with the truth. And 18 months out you have some really nice commercial developments anchored by a likely "super center with gas" type of grocery tenant.

Alleghany trading up above the deal price with a Barron's article speculating there could be other bidders. Berkshire has been outbid on TransRe before, I suppose history could repeat itself. BTW - I thought I posted here last night but it is deleted. Maybe because the site was down?

Great post as always Bill!

Bloomberg has an article shedding some light on the odd 848.02 deal price: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Warren Buffett is telegraphing his disdain for Wall Street bankers with an oddball price on his latest multibillion-dollar takeover. The $848.02 for every share that Alleghany Corp. stockholders get from Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is the result of Buffett balking at the banking fee being set aside by the target company -- in this case for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which is advising the insurer. Berkshire had offered to pay $850 a share with Buffett cautioning Alleghany that he didn’t want to foot the bill for the banking fees, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private information. So any fee for a financial adviser would come out of the proceeds for Alleghany’s shareholders. The result is spelled out in a regulatory filing: An announced purchase price that subtracts roughly $27 million for Goldman -- calling attention to Buffett’s stand. The 91-year-old has historically expressed disdain for investment bankers, calling them among the expensive “money-shufflers” who “clamor to be fed” in his annual letter released in 2015. When he was a shareholder and director of Gillette Co., he pushed unsuccessfully in 1996 to slash such fees to Duracell International Inc.’s bankers as part of Gillette’s acquisition of the battery company. Representatives for Goldman and Alleghany declined to comment. Buffett’s assistant didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment. The transaction is Berkshire’s largest since 2016, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. While deal prices typically reflect the back-and-forth between buyers and sellers, it gets smoothed over before the deal is struck. Most announcements are priced to avoid clunky numbers after both sides agree on a plan for how advisors are paid. A regulatory filing notes that the price would have been $850 per share but for the roughly $27 million fee paid to Goldman. The Oracle of Omaha, known for his witty business aphorisms, rarely uses an investment bank with his deals, instead relying on Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger’s previous law firm, Munger, Tolles & Olson, to advise on acquisitions. There have been exceptions. Byron Trott, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker who helped Buffett strike a deal to buy food distribution business McLane from Walmart Inc., was one of the rare bankers who won grudging respect from Buffett. “He understands Berkshire far better than any investment banker with whom we have talked and – it hurts me to say this – earns his fee,” Buffett said in his letter released in 2004. --------------------------------------------- From the Alleghany merger proxy: "(a) Each Share issued and outstanding immediately before the Effective Time (other than any Shares to be cancelled pursuant to Section 2.1(b) and any Dissenting Shares) will be cancelled and extinguished and be converted into the right to receive $848.02 in cash, representing $850.00 per Share less the financial advisory fee due to the Financial Advisor in connection with the Merger, payable to the holder of such Share, without interest"

What's the right way to think about it? Alleghany has about a $16 Billion bond portfolio, FWIW.

I guess I was wrong on "the phone rang" part - Barrons has a source close to the deal reporting that Berkshire initiated the transaction. https://www.barrons.com/articles/berkshire-hathaway-deal-for-insurer-alleghany-is-great-for-berkshire-not-so-good-for-alleghany-51647877030

I think that Transatlantic bid by Ajit was some sort of favor to Transatlantic management. I forget the specifics but I don't think Berkshire was expecting to actually acquire the company - although they were certainly willing to at their bid price. I'll have to look back into why I formed that opinion but I remember considering it a favor Ajit did for a respected colleague. edit - maybe it was to keep Validus from getting Transatlantic?

This one seems pretty small to make much of a difference - 22 or 23 Billion in investments. I have a feeling the phone rang and that is the extent of the timing.

Alleghany trading up past the deal price - hopefully the go-shop doesn't put the company with someone else. I just sold out of the Y shares I had at 852

Ajit has been a big fan of TransRe for a long time and did a quota share with them last year. Also, I don't think Buffett really wanted to fire Joe Brandon over that AIG "scandal." I think Warren thought Berkshire/GenRe had accounted for the transaction properly but regulators wanted some heads on the Berkshire side as well. FWIW, Alleghany Capital has a steel building/stadium subsidiary that built MSGE's Sphere. Here is a recent investor presentation for Y: https://s24.q4cdn.com/857140222/files/doc_financials/2021/q4/Alleghany-Corporation-Fourth-Quarter-Investor-Presentation.pdf

Berkshire refinancing rates - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1067983/000119312522068401/d270968dfwp.htm Also borrowing again in Euros, but final rates not published yet Here are the Euro rates - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1067983/000119312522069232/d324160dfwp.htm

Sounds about right. I still can't believe 10k an acre. And apparently they are actually putting solar farms in Indiana, which doesn't sound like the best spot to put them but they are leasing farms if you are situated by the right power infrastructure. We have a different sort of deal with the farmer, where we split the cost of the seed and there is a split on the proceeds so we take a lot more price risk on the actual commodity and we get to decide on the timing of sale / forward sale / storage.

1/12th! What a mess. Yes for our farm we are trying to limit how many ways it gets sliced. My uncle with a third will try to only pass his interest to just one of his sons instead of all 3. Just make up the difference with more other assets to those other heirs (my cousins). Hoping another uncle does the same to his son and it basically always stays a 3 member LLC or the farm is sold. Also been in the family for over 100 years but I have no spiritual connection to it or anything. I learned to drive stick there and I learned to ride a motorcycle there but that's the extent of my fond feelings towards the farmland... It is finally distributing some nice profits lately though! "Beans in the Teens!" woohoo!

Supply lines are easy with pex. The trickier part with diy plumbing is knowing all the rules for venting the drains. I have also inadvertently run pvc drain pipes too tight up against framing to where it is loud when hot water travels through the drains and they try to slightly expand against the framing. Is any of this work going to be inspected?

One more thing - I do not understand the "value per acre" of midwest farmland at all. Every time they tell me what the ground is worth per acre I'm like, "Why???" - Farmland as an investment always seems way overvalued to me based on its yield. They say the return comes from appreciation of the ground and it looks ok backward looking but I just can't imagine why someone would want to pay the price for farmland they tell me it is worth. I would never buy an apartment building with those economics.

So I read our operating agreement. The way it is written in ours, if a member wants to leave/sell their units the Company has right of first refusal to buy their interest. There is an appraisal of the farm net of any cash or debts and the way it is written the Company can pay the departing member in any combination of cash and a promissory note that it chooses. The buy-out period for that promissory note can be extended for up to 10 years. Interest is at the "Applicable Federal Rate" whatever that is. I assume 10yr. treasury rate for a 10yr promissory note. There is also a restriction on transfer of units - all members must agree before any member can transfer/assign/sell/convey/pledge/encumber their interest. The only exception to this required unanimous consent is that children and grandchildren of a member who dies are automatically allowed in. If you violate the agreement and transfer your interest to someone else without approval, the new member has no right to participate in the management of the business and is only entitled to their share of distributions. One thing I will recommend, if you like your family members and like vacationing with them, is to hold the "annual meeting" at a vacation destination you all want to go be together at anyway and have the LLC reimburse all members for their costs of traveling to and attending the annual meeting. This is an expense of the LLC and can cover travel costs, vacation rentals, even a few dinners - with pretax money.

We have a family farm (corn & soybeans out by Noblesville, IN, farmed by a tenant/partner) in a 3 member LLC. I will read the documents and see if there is anything in there about this but I don't recall any language at all laying out how members buy each others out in advance. Over 10 years, the value of the farm can change a decent amount - I wouldn't want to lock in a sell price today and end up getting the last of my money 10 years from now. My Uncle handles the administration and K-1s with our small farm - I'll see if he has any advice. If you are just setting up the LLC for the first time, seems like you all can write the "rules" however you want. If I were to buy out my cousins, I would assume there would be an appraisal by a 3rd party and a closing with payment in full. Farmland isn't too tricky to value. Our farm is debt free so I suppose if someone wanted out the remaining members could decide to have the LLC repurchase the interest with borrowed funds, increasing remaining members ownership in exchange for lower distributions while the debt was being paid off.

The WSJ had an article I thought was good - https://www.wsj.com/articles/cause-ukraine-war-robert-service-moscow-putin-lenin-stalin-history-communism-invasion-kgb-fsb-11646413200?mod=mhp

It was a great report. 24 exclamation points not counting passages he was quoting. I am impressed with his restraint as he ages. My conclusion is that this company is worth more than $11 Billion usd.

Annual Report is out now: https://s1.q4cdn.com/579586326/files/doc_financials/2021/FF/WEBSITE-Fairfax-Financial's-2021-Annual-Report.pdf

Cross posting from the OXY forum, since Berkshire filed new information on a stock that happens to be one of the top gainers on the exchange: _____________________________________________________________-- I hadn't realized that in addition to the warrant strike price being reduced to 59.624 (from 62.50 orig.), the number of warrant shares was also increased from 80m to 83,858,848.81. Berkshire filing out just now casually mentioning that they control 113.67 million shares of OXY (almost 30 million shares in addition to the warrant shares) https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/797468/000119312522066054/d317667dsc13g.htm edit: it's funny that Icahn starts selling large blocks and suddenly Berkshire has 30m shares we didn't know about and they didn't own at year end: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000797468/000153949722000554/n2779_x32-sc13da.htm (scroll all the way to the bottom for recent sales by Icahn - too early Carl!)