Buffett’s Sales of BYD Shares Top 25% of Former Berkshire Holding

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire, which remains BYD’s largest shareholder in Hong Kong, invested in the automaker in September 2008

(Bloomberg) — Berkshire Hathaway Inc. further trimmed its stake in Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD Co., according to a filing Tuesday, offloading 1.3 million Hong Kong-traded shares to take its holding below 15%. That means the investment house has now sold more than a quarter of its position over five months.

Warren Buffett’s company started publicly reducing its stake in Shenzhen-based BYD in August, when it cut its holding from 20.49% to 19.92%. The pace of sales accelerated in November. Berkshire has to disclose only sales of 1% or more, with any transactions to counterparties under that figure not publicized. Berkshire’s holding now stands at 14.95%.