Buffett’s Berkshire buys more Occidental shares, raises stake to about 16.4%

June 28 (Reuters) – Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Company (BRKa.N) On Monday, it said it had bought another 794,389 shares in Occidental Petroleum Corp (OXY.N)giving the conglomerate nearly 16.4% of the oil company’s stake in Houston, Texas.

Berkshire said in a statement that the purchases were made in multiple transactions and cost approximately $44 million deposit. The stock purchases come nearly a week after Berkshire bought 9.6 million shares of Occidental.

Berkshire, Occidental’s largest single shareholder, now owns about 153.5 million shares worth about $9.04 billion, based on Occidental’s closing Monday.

Occidental’s stock price is currently up nearly 90% this year, as the company has benefited from Berkshire’s purchases and higher oil prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The company also has options to purchase 83.9 million shares of another Occidental Company, which, if exercised, would raise its stake to more than 25%.

Berkshire has been on a spending spree this year.

It spent $51.1 billion on equity in the first quarter, including a $25.9 billion increase in oil company Chevron Corp.’s stake. (CVX.N).

This year Berkshire also announced a major investment in video game maker Activision Blizzard (ATVI.O) computer and printer maker HP Inc (HPQ.N)and the planned $11.6 billion acquisition of insurance company Alleghany Corp.

Additional reporting by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob Phillips

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