Warren Buffett Watch
- Timeless and Time-Tested Warren Buffett Watch Predictions
- 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
RSS FEED
- S&P Stocks Trading at New 52-Week Highs
- Whitacre Will Change GM, But Will He Bring Better Results?
- Chipmaker Sees Options Upside After a Strong Sector Report
- Treasury Assistance Comes at High Price For GM
- Unemployment to Peak at 10.5%: Moody's Economist
- 8 Stocks to Gain on Obama's Afghan Plan: Analysts
- BofA On Proposed Changes In The Housing Bailout Program
- The Future of The Media Landscape
- November Auto Sales Muddle Along
- Mortgage Applications Up as Rates Continue to Decrease
- Tiger Woods Admits 'Transgressions'; Issues Apology
- Geithner: There Must Be Derivatives Rules for All
- Wal-Mart Targets Video Games with Latest Price Cuts
- 'Black Swan' Shuns Public Life Because of Bernanke
- Dubai World To Meet with Creditors Next Week
- FHA to Toughen Mortgage Rules in Lenders Crackdown
- Blog: Will Whitacre Bring Better Results to GM?
- Geeks Replacing Swashbucklers on Wall Street
Text Size 
Executive Producer
 |
Bloomberg reports today (Thursday) it's been told by "two people with knowledge of the bid" that Berkshire is the mysterious 'Party M' mentioned in a new regulatory filing.
Party M is described as a "global insurance and reinsurance company" in the filing, which outlines the lower-priced cash-and-stock deal that IPC reached instead with Validus Holdings. Shareholders for both companies still need to approve the agreement.
The filing says Party M's bid was rejected because it didn't want IPC to pay a third-quarter dividend. IPC also turned down other bids from Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings, a "large private equity firm," and another reinsurer referred to as "Party N."
It wouldn't have been Buffett's first move in reinsurance, although Berkshire has been backing away recently from writing catastrophic property damage reinsurance policies.
It bought General Re for $16 billion in 1998 and invested $2.6 billion in troubled Swiss Re this year. It appears to be looking for other 'Re' opportunities created by the global recession.
Morningstar analyst Bill Bergman tells Bloomberg, "A deal with IPC could have been a cost-effective way for Berkshire to spread its wings even more... The environment for deals is getting better every day."
Current Berkshire stock prices:
 |
Class A: [US;BRK.A
Loading...
()
]
Class B: [US;BRK.B
Loading...
()
]
For more Buffett Watch updates follow alexcrippen on Twitter.
Email comments to
- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Retreats from "Risky Business" - WSJ (July 13)
- Berkshire Hathaway's "Price Is Right" Raves Barron's (July 13)
- Warren Buffett's Top Three Investment Rules for the Average American (July 10)
- Warren Buffett's Complete Sun Valley CNBC Interview - Transcript and Video (July 9)
- Warren Buffett Tells CNBC Consumer Sales Remain "Very, Very Soft" (July 9)
- Warren Buffett: Economy Needs Another Dose of Viagra (July 9)
- Canada's Salida Capital Revealed As Winning $1.68M Bidder for Warren Buffett Lunch (July 8)
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes