RE:RE:RE:BH and SumitomoTXRogers wrote:
likeike wrote: Hey Tx now that warren has invaded your sacred land at age 90 do you think he still has
enough time to take over the world?
Gotta love that now he is a indirect partner with Novo.
Just when you thought it was safe to hide in the land of the rising sun and the sinking saki
bottles....Ike
He is not taking over any world. He is fleeing the place he's called home. Japanese trading houses are increasingly anchoring their business to Asia in order to survive, not North America .
And Buffett is an indirect partner of Novo in as much as he can be considered close to us because he breathes the same air. Irrelevant in the bigger picture.
He would have likely preferred Chinese trading houses, but they would have eaten up, robbed him blind, and spit him back out.
It's not that I consider The Land if Rising Sun a safe place to hide. It's more if Buffett thinks so.
Tx
It's an investment in commodities, at the core of it.
Berkshire Hathaway bought stakes in five of Japan’s biggest trading companies, adding to the investment wager on the commodities sector and marking one of Berkshire's largest-ever forays into Asia’s second-largest economy.
Most of the Japanese companies targeted by Berkshire are major players in the nation’s energy and raw-materials industries, trade at less than book value and offer higher dividend yields than the benchmark Topix index.
These trading companies generate strong cash flow, they pay out a lot of dividends and they have businesses that can’t be easily replicated.
Japan’s general trading houses, known as "sogo shosha” with roots dating back hundreds of years, supply the resource-poor nation, and have spent the last few decades transforming into conglomerates that hold equity stakes in hundreds of diverse companies around the world. While they operate in areas like textiles and machinery, they still derive much of their revenue from energy, metals and other commodities.
Aside from their valuations, dividends and central role in Japan’s supply chain, the companies may have appealed to Buffett in part because the country has a reputation for trusted accounting. So he believes. And a couple scandals here last and there should be nothing new for him.
Really has nothing to do with Novo. Not on the radar.
Tx