The man is Warren Buffett.
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If the latest disclosure is any indication, Warren Buffet may be buying more Japanese stocks.
In August 2020, the investor revealed stakes worth $6 billion in five Japanese trading companies. He hedged against the Japanese currency falling against the US dollar by issuing close to $6 billion of debt.
The company filed to issue debt this week. That may mean it's increasing its stakes in the Japanese quintet.
James Shanahan, an equity analyst at Edward Jones, told Insider that it could be the case that Berkshire is buying more of each of these names. "This may have been going on before, with Berkshire preferring to keep this private."
On the other hand, if the value of his Japanese bets increases, he wants to hedge against the increase in currency exposure, and so he might be issuing more debt.
The Japanese holdings are worth a combined $8.7 billion, despite the fall in the Japanese currency against the dollar. The company isn't fully hedged against currency movements because the carrying value of their debt is much higher than at the last count.
Private equity firms and special-purpose acquisition companies pricing him out of acquisitions, and the rising stock price of his company, have made it difficult for him to find bargains with US stocks near record highs.
The investor wants to use a big chunk of the cash reserves that grew to a record $149 billion in the third quarter of 2021. He may have found the best option to be doubling down on Japanese stocks and taking advantage of the cheap financing.
"If the portfolio is close to 100% leverage, the portfolio will be fully funded by debt at an average cost of 0.6%." He said that.
The Smead Value Fund beat 99% of its peers. The managers share where they're putting their money and they're betting big on 3 of them.
Business Insider has an original article.
