Warren Buffett said on Saturday that Berkshire Hathaway would not make a bid for full control of Occidental Petroleum, quelling speculation he was seeking to own the energy producer after spending months buying up its shares.
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Berkshire has not ruled out buying more shares in the Houston-based company, adding that it may or may not be seeking more purchases. Berkshire’s CEO also paid tribute to its CEO, Vicki Hollub, at Berkshire’s annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska.
Berkshire is Occidental’s largest shareholder, owning 23.6% of the shares, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Berkshire has ramped up its bets on the company under Hollub’s management, which has taken aggressive steps to increase returns for shareholders by curbing capital-intensive production growth in favor of dividends and share buybacks for investors.
Berkshire secured approval from US regulators last year to acquire up to 50% of the company, which led to further speculation that Berkshire would seek full control.
In 2019, Buffett aided Holub’s pursuit of Anadarko Petroleum by agreeing to invest $10 billion in Occidental, an agreement that included both preferred stock and warrants. These warrants allow Berkshire to purchase up to 83.86 million shares of Occidental at a price of $59.62.
Buffett has frequently praised Holub’s leadership, implying that he was everything in the company. Occidental’s share price is down 3.7% since the start of the year.
(Updates with more detail from the first paragraph.)
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