- Hedge Funds Take Early Lead in Warren Buffett's 'Big Bet'
- Amended Berkshire Hathaway Filing Indicates No Secret Stock Stakes at End of Q3
- Buffett's Wealth and Fame Hasn't Helped 'Warren' As a Name
- CNBC VIDEO: Warren Buffett & Bill Gates 'Walk & Talk' at Columbia University
- Warren Buffett to CNBC: Curbing Fed's Independence Could Lead to 'Mischief'
- Warren Buffett to Co-Chair Goldman Sachs Program to Help Small Businesses
- Warren Buffett: 'Reasonable Return is Good Enough' for Long-Haul Railroad Ride
- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Almost Doubles Wal-Mart Holdings During Summer
- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Portfolio Snapshot Coming Later Today
- Warren Buffett to CNBC: 'I Haven't Bought American Express In Years'
RSS FEED
- U.S. Stocks Fall on Dubai Worries
- Black Friday at Best Buy
- Strategists on Dubai: Avoid 'Rash Moves' Now
- Longer Lines, Fuller Carts This Black Friday
- Dubai Stock Market Fear Has 'Legs': Dennis Gartman
- Obama's Emission Reduction Pledge Paints Future for Autos
- Is Super Bowl Halftime Act Too Old?
- Surprising Options Trades in TiVo Shares
- EA Sports Hopes to Pump Up Sales Through Pop-Up Locations
- UAE Central Bank Stands by Banks Amid Dubai Crisis
- UAE Markets Seen Limit Down on Monday Open
- Banks With The Biggest Exposure to The UAE
- Dubai's Debt Woes Signal New Era for Creditors
- US Treasury Wants Banks to Do More to Ease Mortgages
- Fed Audit Would Hurt Economic Prospects: Bernanke
- Next Week: Cash In Now Or Wait For A Santa Rally?
- Big US Banks May Be Forced to Raise Capital: Bove
- Tiger Woods Accepts Full Blame for Car Crash
Warren Buffett Watch
Text Size 
Berkshire Hathaway is getting a big piece of Swiss Re's insurance action as the world's largest reinsurer hooks up with Warren Buffett in what one analyst calls "an odd coupling."
 |
Swiss Re Swiss Re's head office on Lake Zurich in Switzerland. |
Hawkins' view: "Berkshire Hathaway is not a charity and when we see them taking such a significant role in the strategic future of a major competitor, we believe it is wise to be cautious. This should be taken as a vote of confidence in Swiss Re by one of the world's most respected investors."
The deal allows Swiss Re to increase the size of a stock buyback and "retain flexibility in a softening property and casualty market," according to the company's CEO in a news release announcing the deal.
European investors responded by sending Swiss Re shares sharply higher today. They had been down 8.5 percent since the beginning of the month amid credit fears and weakening pricing power in the reinsurance business. (The Wall Street Journal has suggested Berkshire's stock price has also fallen victim to pricing weakness.)
Current price: [US;BRK.A
Loading...
()
]
While the Berkshire deal helps Swiss Re through a tough patch, giving a fifth of its property/casualty business to Buffett potentially limits Swiss Re's upside when things pick up, as Buffett clearly expects they will.
Is a bigger deal coming? In a Market Talk item today, Dow Jones quotes Merrill Lynch's Brian Shea as saying, "We do not think it would be feasible, particularly from a revenue loss standpoint, for the world's number 1 and number 3 reinsurers to merge."
But Forbes paraphrases analyst Fabrizio Crocs of Landsbanki Kepler in Zurich as saying he "wouldn't be surprised if (Berkshire) moved towards a full takeover after testing the water with an initial investment."
Questions? Comments? Email me at
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes