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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!)

The publicly traded 22 strike warrants Icahn pushed for aren’t doing too badly either. Much like the BAC deal, there were at least some similar if not identical securities trading publicly. how is IEP not catching any bid considering its top holdings and an active HBO doc? Must be crazy overvalued? I never quite wrapped my head around the strange distribution but knowing Carl it’s somehow genius for him.

Thanks for directing my attention to EBAY - not a company I had looked at in many years and I was surprised at both the market cap and the pace of share repurchases. I bid 54 premarket at it ran higher without filling anything

Thanks Viking. Looking forward to reading it this evening! It is going to be hard to top last year's letter's 27 exclamation points in 33 pages so I will take the 'under.'

Or maybe it is tonight after the close? I feel like Fairfax emails it out on a Friday night

Thanks. Second lazy question - when are we expecting the Fairfax annual shareholder's letter to be released? (and is there a drinking game involving the number of exclamation points used by Prem?)

Anyone know offhand what percentage of Exco Resources Fairfax owns? Estimate of value?

I think you will find that modern electrical work is one of the easiest skills to master. I actually kind of enjoy electrical work because it is so easy to do yourself. I got started by wiring a few complete houses (open wall) alongside my electrician so I learned his methods and pet peeves, etc. Fishing wires in closed walls isn't nearly as fun but it sounds like you have access from below.

We have used a product called Waterlox, which is a penetrating wiping varnish - it is like many thin "in the wood" solvent based finishes as opposed to "on the wood" film finishes like thicker poly. Waterlox is basically mineral spirits, oil (probably modified tung and linseed) and resin (like urethane). I'm not sure they even sell solvent based finishes in California. These types of countertops tend to hold up fine on a kitchen island that doesn't contain a sink, where we edge join the slabs together to make large island countertops. The wiping varnish (Waterlox) type products make quick refinishes between tenants fairly easy. We use a non-glossy satin for the final coat. Another problem we run into down here is that a big slab of wood (even one made up of many smaller pieces glued up) doesn't like being sealed only on one side - and it is uncommon to pre-seal all of the cuts and underside of the butcher block countertops before installation. You can have a situation where a warm, steamy dishwasher and unconditioned under-sink cabinet area conflicts with the dry air-conditioned area on top and the big slabs want to cup - this is more of an issue on bigger slabs, like a peninsula, where two countertop slabs are glued up to obtain depth for the overhang over the half-wall and barstool area. We have never tried building up a film on top of the wood like traditional thick polyurethane. We use one called "Behlen Rockhard" in satin on other stuff but I can't remember if that would leave rings where drinks are set down. Still can't put anything hot on it. I know granite can be ugly, but there are quite a few better looking granites available plus any of the manmade quartz countertops - they can all handle hot pans right out of the oven and the acid from citrus, vinegar, etc... Carrera marble is cheap and beautiful but even with the best sealers it will etch from citrus and eventually take stains - better in a honed finish but will still etch and scratch, marble is very soft. My apologies for the long reply

The main problem with wood countertops is water around the kitchen sink. I have units with solid butcher block countertops and they are very easy to self-install and inexpensive. But after a few years the areas around the sinks are all messed up. If you use an over mount stainless steel sink with a fairly large apron that drains toward the sink that could help. I wouldn't recommend wood countertops with an under-mount sink. Ikea used to sell a cheap porcelain farmhouse style sink called domsjo that sat on top of the wood countertops and that did ok preventing water damage but the sink and cabinet are difficult to replace when a tenant damages the porcelain sink. Also that look is now dated. You guys will figure it out - have fun!

This is a good question to call Interactive Brokers and ask. Or if you are not in a hurry, open a ticket and wait a couple days for the ticket to end up at the appropriate person.