Buffett/Berkshire - general news

[wabuffo]

That looks like an NAIC filing

 

I know that - but how does one access these filings as pdfs?  Is there a fee? etc.

 

Bill

Edited May 19, 2025 by wabuffo

[rogermunibond]

Set pricing on filing

 

https://content.naic.org/sites/default/files/insdata-home-pricing.pdf

Edited May 19, 2025 by rogermunibond

[wabuffo]

Thanks, rogermunibond!  

 

Bill

[gfp]

20 minutes ago, wabuffo said:

That looks like an NAIC filing

 

I know that - but how does one access these filings as pdfs?  Is there a fee? etc.

 

Bill

https://insdata.naic.org

[wabuffo]

Thanks gfp.   All these years of following BRK and I never thought about accessing these filings.  Doh!

 

Bill

[gfp]

7 minutes ago, wabuffo said:

Thanks gfp.   All these years of following BRK and I never thought about accessing these filings.  Doh!

 

Bill

 

There are bunch of different subsidiaries with separate filings.  National Indemnity is home to the largest pool of investment capital.  GEICO, Columbia Insurance, General Re, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty, some of the life insurance subs, the remnants of the old bond insurer, Berkshire Hathaway Assurance, etc...

 

They are very good at hiding confidential investments inside a vehicle called Harney Investment Trust and another vehicle in an other subsidiary I momentary forgot the name of - maybe Dewey Investment Trust?

 

The filings include details on individual bonds, foreign stocks, even the yield Wells Fargo pays them on their bank account.  Sometimes you get a nugget like the BNSF dividend out of National Indemnity to the Holdco a few years ago.

 

One of the annual filings list all the holdings.  The quarterly filings only show activity during the quarter (as far as the investment section is concerned.)

[rogermunibond]

Anyone have details on insurance subsidiary debt offerings and whether they are guaranteed by Berkshire Hathaway parent co?

 

BH spells out explicitly that BHE and BNSF debt are not guaranteed by parent but that some insurance sub debt is guaranteed.

[gfp]

11 minutes ago, rogermunibond said:

Anyone have details on insurance subsidiary debt offerings and whether they are guaranteed by Berkshire Hathaway parent co?

 

BH spells out explicitly that BHE and BNSF debt are not guaranteed by parent but that some insurance sub debt is guaranteed.

 

I'm not sure the insurance subsidiaries have any debt.  They are generally capital providers (lenders, preferred stock purchasers, etc) to the non-insurance subsidiaries (Pilot, Lubrizol, BHE in the prior structure).

 

Berkshire primarily issues guaranteed debt through Berkshire Hathaway Finance Corporation and the Berkshire Hathaway holding company itself.  

[charlieruane]

@gfp Any chance you could tell us a bit about that BNSF dividend? Intriguing...!

[gfp]

5 minutes ago, charlieruane said:

@gfp Any chance you could tell us a bit about that BNSF dividend? Intriguing...!

 

It's nothing new, basically BNSF was a wholly owned subsidiary of National Indemnity.  That is where Berkshire owned the BNI stock before the acquisition and that is where the acquisition lived after the deal closed.  BNSF counted towards insurance regulatory capital for National Indemnity, but the figure was nothing close to BSNF's actual economic value.  National Indemnity asked for permission to distribute its 100% ownership in BNSF to the Berkshire parent company (the Holding company) and did so on September 30, 2023.  National Indemnity is extremely over-capitalized for the level of business they write (understatement) so the loss of BNSF did not come close impacting their ability to write business.

 

When BNSF pays their quarterly distributions since 9/30/23, they land in the parent company instead of inside National Indemnity.

 

[John Hjorth]

29 minutes ago, gfp said:

I'm not sure the insurance subsidiaries have any debt.  They are generally capital providers (lenders, preferred stock purchasers, etc) to the non-insurance subsidiaries (Pilot, Lubrizol, BHE in the prior structure).

 

Berkshire primarily issues guaranteed debt through Berkshire Hathaway Finance Corporation and the Berkshire Hathaway holding company itself.  

 

Yes, on group level YE2024 : USD 44,885 million :

 

 

On parent level YE2024 : USD 21,091 million :

 

 

,Diff BHFC YE2024 : USD [44,885 - 21,091] million = USD 23,794 million.

 

Edited May 19, 2025 by John Hjorth

[rogermunibond]

So what about the $2.7 billion of sub debt that BH does guarantee?  That's what I was wondering about.  Precision Castparts, Lubrizol, etc.

Edited May 19, 2025 by rogermunibond

[John Hjorth]

8 minutes ago, rogermunibond said:

So what about the $2.7 billion of sub debt that BH does guarantee?  That's what I was wondering about.  Precision Castparts, Lubrizol, etc.

 

Yeah, Roger [ @rogermunibond ],

 

I read it like you do. Meaning, if there is any bank debt in the whole system of all the group companies at all, it's likely not that much at all, or we would see it in a separate line in the group balance sheet, again meaning no *BS* and hanky-panky with monthly reporting to banks, follow-up communication with banks etc. anywhere in the group, so if money is needed somewhere in the group for p&p etc. you just call corporate headquarter : 'Send us more money, please!' 

[DJS]

On 5/18/2025 at 1:23 PM, gfp said:

they alternate so in theory it should be roughly equal but it isn’t if the audience member drones on in a self indulgent rambling way and Becky asks a succinct well edited question that incorporates real time adjustments to adapt to topics already discussed / answered. 
 

was there a single audience member question that anyone remembers being good?

 

I thought the guy asking why they bought Portillo's was a solid question haha! Warren's story of Jay Pritzker was a great answer though...but I'll give the credit to Warren for coming up with it and not wanting to embarrass the guy and say, "ah sorry I think you're at the wrong meeting dude", rather than to the question.

 

So I agree, definitely feels like a missed opportunity and would've preferred more of Becky covering the best questions she received

[redskin]

11 hours ago, gfp said:

 

There are bunch of different subsidiaries with separate filings.  National Indemnity is home to the largest pool of investment capital.  GEICO, Columbia Insurance, General Re, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty, some of the life insurance subs, the remnants of the old bond insurer, Berkshire Hathaway Assurance, etc...

 

They are very good at hiding confidential investments inside a vehicle called Harney Investment Trust and another vehicle in an other subsidiary I momentary forgot the name of - maybe Dewey Investment Trust?

 

The filings include details on individual bonds, foreign stocks, even the yield Wells Fargo pays them on their bank account.  Sometimes you get a nugget like the BNSF dividend out of National Indemnity to the Holdco a few years ago.

 

One of the annual filings list all the holdings.  The quarterly filings only show activity during the quarter (as far as the investment section is concerned.)

Great stuff, GFP.  In the past, if they request confidentially, did it show up in the subsidiaries before it was reported by the parent?  As far as BNSF, I go to the BNSF 10Q to see what they distributed to the parent.  I keep a spreadsheet.  Since Berkshire has wholly owned BNSF through Q1 2025, BNSF has distributed $59 billion to the parent (Berkshire).

[redskin]

https://www.bnsf.com/about-bnsf/financial-information/pdf/10q-llc-1q-2025.pdf

 

In the cash flow statement you can see BNSF distributed $700mm in Q1.

[redskin]

Using a purchase price of $34 billion and using Union Pacific's current valuation of $137 billion, I calculate an annualized return of 15%. This is with the annual distributions Berkshire received. 

[Rainier]

On 5/18/2025 at 11:16 AM, gfp said:

I would argue “those types of meetings” are not a dime a dozen and actually the rare exception. Berkshire used to have one of them. I can think of maybe 4 other companies that host substantiative annual meetings with material discussion of the actual business. The vast majority are just perfunctory formalities that aren’t attended by shareholders. 
 

 

I’m curious, who are the other 4 companies with substantive annual meetings? Fairfax? Constellation?

[gfp]

8 hours ago, redskin said:

https://www.bnsf.com/about-bnsf/financial-information/pdf/10q-llc-1q-2025.pdf

 

In the cash flow statement you can see BNSF distributed $700mm in Q1.

Yeah, I was referring to the entire company BNSF being distributed out of National Indemnity as a “dividend” to the owner.  That was first revealed in the insurance filings. 

[gfp]

4 minutes ago, Rainier said:

I’m curious, who are the other 4 companies with substantive annual meetings? Fairfax? Constellation?

There may be way more than 4 - I’m just not aware of them. I’m not gonna name them but yeah I think Fairfax and Fairfax India AGMs are really good. Maybe I have to bump it to 6

[KPO]

https://ir.kraftheinzcompany.com/news/the-kraft-heinz-company-announces-ongoing-evaluation-of-strategic-transactions-to-unlock-shareholder-value/5fa424cf-9c84-40ce-a10b-0ce821ec3e27
 

Would be good to see Berkshire figure out a way to exit this investment that hasn’t worked out. 

[John Hjorth]

7 hours ago, Rainier said:

I’m curious, who are the other 4 companies with substantive annual meetings? Fairfax? Constellation?

 

@Rainier,

 

What's your nationality, - do you mind to share ?  - That asked, company culture towards shareholders may vary deerly from country to country

[Hektor]

2 hours ago, KPO said:

https://ir.kraftheinzcompany.com/news/the-kraft-heinz-company-announces-ongoing-evaluation-of-strategic-transactions-to-unlock-shareholder-value/5fa424cf-9c84-40ce-a10b-0ce821ec3e27
 

Would be good to see Berkshire figure out a way to exit this investment that hasn’t worked out. 

Will BRK acquire some part of this company?

[Munger_Disciple]

10 minutes ago, Hektor said:

Will BRK acquire some part of this company?

 

I sure hope not

[KPO]

12 hours ago, Hektor said:

Will BRK acquire some part of this company?

My view is that it’s a troubled business, however as with PSX and PG they could hive off units in tax-free transactions.  The rub is they don’t presently have a logical place to house packaged food acquisitions.
 

It does introduce a valid strategic question of whether it would make sense to formally establish business sector leaders who are charged with growing the business through sensible bolt-on acquisitions. Maybe that’s how they establish this capability in the packaged foods space (if it’s even a business they want to participate in long term). 

Edited May 21, 2025 by KPO