The identity of the stock secretly purchased by Berkshire Hathaway, led by 'investment genius' Warren Buffett, has finally been revealed. It is Chubb, a major insurance company headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.
On the 15th (local time), Berkshire Hathaway confirmed in its 13-F filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that as of March 31, it held more than 25.9 million shares of Chubb. This amounts to approximately $6.7 billion. Chubb ranks as the ninth largest holding in Berkshire's portfolio.
In the second half of last year, Berkshire requested confidentiality for one or more transaction records from the SEC. This was the first such confidentiality request since 2020. Notably, Berkshire did not receive any questions related to this matter at the May annual shareholders' meeting, where Buffett and other executives answered public questions, which heightened Wall Street's curiosity. Inside and outside Wall Street, there were speculations that the confidential stock might be a bank stock, given the increase in Berkshire's purchases of 'banking, insurance, and financial' stocks.
Investment media Barron's analyzed the background of the confidentiality request, stating, "Because revealing Berkshire's investment could cause the stock price to surge, they wanted to buy Chubb shares before the price rose." After Berkshire's investment was disclosed, Chubb's stock price jumped more than 9% in after-hours trading. Well known for its high-end masterpiece home insurance, Chubb is led by Evan Greenberg, son of Maurice Greenberg, the legendary former CEO of American International Group (AIG). Chubb currently operates in 54 countries.
In particular, the insurance business is considered a specialty that Buffett has invested in since the 1950s. Berkshire operates the world's largest property and casualty insurance business, including the auto insurer GEICO. In 2022, it acquired the insurer Alleghany for about $11.6 billion. Berkshire's strong performance in the first quarter of this year is also attributed to its insurance business. Bloomberg News noted that Buffett has long referred to Berkshire's property and casualty insurance business as the group's "core."
Meanwhile, as of the end of the first quarter, Berkshire's holdings in Apple were confirmed to be worth $135.4 billion. Although Buffett acknowledged at the previous shareholders' meeting that the Apple stake had been reduced, he stated that it would remain Berkshire's largest investment. Berkshire's cash holdings at the end of the first quarter were estimated at $189 billion.
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