Berkshire tweaks bank play with $2.9bn bet on Citi

Berkshire tweaks bank play with $2.9bn bet on Citi

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, which cut many bank holdings as the pandemic bore down on the US, is back with a roughly $2.9bn bet on Jane Fraser’s Citigroup even as it said goodbye to a long-time stake in Wells Fargo & Co. The company also added a $2.61bn bet on Paramount and a nearly $390m stake in Ally Financial, according to a regulatory filing on Monday. Buffett’s firm also disclosed new stakes in McKesson Corp., Markel Corp. and Celanese Corp. Berkshire has spent recent years revamping its bank bets. It pulled back from big-name investments including stakes in JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group, while sticking with Bank of America Corp. and US Bancorp. Wells Fargo, an investment made more than three decades ago by Berkshire, has been whittled down and finally disappeared from the quarterly filing this time around. Berkshire’s now betting on Citigroup as new management takes over. Citigroup’s shares have been languishing even as new CEO Fraser seeks to refocus on higher-returning businesses like wealth management and treasury offerings. The shares have traded below book value — a sign that investors believe executives are actively destroying shareholder value – since 2018. A Citi spokeswoman declined