Buffett Feasts on Goldman Scraps-WSJ

[MVP444300]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303624004577338070658967732.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories

 

Hmmm, I wonder if Mr. Buffett had anymore trades he bought from Goldman?

 

In November, Goldman sold about $85 million of loans in troubled newspaper publisher Lee Enterprises Inc. LEE +1.24% Goldman sold the debt at about 65 cents on the dollar, having bought it months before at around 80 cents, resulting in a loss of at least $13 million.

 

The buyer: a unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., BRKB +0.44% according to several people familiar with the matter.

 

Mr. Buffett has since made a tidy paper profit on the loans, which are now worth about 82 cents on the dollar, the people said.

 

In November, Goldman received a call from a loan trader at Citigroup Inc., C +2.21% who said an unidentified client was interested in buying Lee Enterprises loans, the people said.

 

Goldman had been working with other Lee creditors, including Monarch Alternative Capital LP and Mudrick Capital Management LP, on a bankruptcy plan for the struggling publisher that was on the verge of coming together.

 

Nevertheless, Goldman traders agreed to sell the Lee loan.

 

At the time, the bank didn't know the buyer was Mr. Buffett, who also had made more than $1.5 billion on an investment he made in Goldman during the financial crisis. While the trade was agreed in November, it wasn't until March that Mr. Buffett's identity leaked out.

 

Through BH Finance LLC, Mr. Buffett has been buying more Lee loans, snapping up $5 million worth last week, said a person familiar with the situation. This time he paid 81.5 cents on the dollar, 25% more than he paid Goldman.