Hi, Shrewd!        Login  
Shrewd'm.com 
A merry & shrewd investing community
Best Of BRK.ABest OfAll BoardsThe Shrewd’m WeeklyLearn to InvestHow to Become Shrewd
Search
Shrewd'm.com Merry shrewd investors
Search
Best Of BRK.ABest OfAll BoardsThe Shrewd’m WeeklyLearn to InvestHow to Become Shrewd


The week's question
In December 2024, in the thread "Re: BRK: Why Not XOM?", BreckHutHigh asked the members: "What about the long road trips with kids?" This week it is put to everyone again. The button below opens the small thread re-asking it - read what others have said so far, then give your own answer as an ordinary reply.
Answer this questionContinue to Shrewd'mThis note won't appear again
Stocks A to Z / Stocks B / Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
Unthreaded | Threaded | Whole Thread (66) |
Author: ultimatespinach   😊 😞
Number: of 21939 
Subject: Re: The Berkshire Problem
Date: 08/07/23 5:43 PM
Post New | Post Reply | Report Post | Recommend It!
No. of Recommendations: 29
Berkshire has a problem. Albeit a high class problem. If it does not get the opportunity to allocate capital, it will eventually have too much cash.

Less than a month ago, Berkshire paid $3.3 billion for a 50% stake in a liquefied natural gas facility. The sub that bought it, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, began as a $2 billion acquisition in 1999. Today it is valued at around $90 billion.

The energy infrastructure space is full of midstream players that wade waist-deep into debt to build pipelines, storage facilities, export terminals, transmission networks and such. With the recent rapid rise in interest rates, some of them are now feeling stress around all that debt. This was the reported reason for Dominion's sale of the 50% interest in Cove Point, an asset arguably more valuable than the valuation at which Berkshire bought control as one of only seven LNG export terminals in the U.S.

If not now, might Berkshire get more ambitious in this space once Greg Abel, longtime CEO of BH Energy and architect of its rapid growth, is in charge? At a certain dollar level, the private equity houses generally are not a factor. You don't see them writing checks for $50 billion.

Take TC Energy, for example, a Canadian midstream player with a vast network of irreplaceable gas and liquid pipelines and multi-billion-dollar annual capital spending projects to build more. Like a lot of energy companies, it has not participated in the recent re-inflation of the equity markets. It's trading near its 52-week low at a market cap of about $36 billion. Under the current management, recent projects have been plagued by construction delays and cost overruns. Shareholders are not thrilled.

Is it possible that Berkshire under Abel would not confine itself to friendly acquisitions but make plays for parts or all of similar companies?

It's an area with a lot of healthy regulated returns on the operations side and it could absorb a lot of capital. Does anyone else think that Greg Abel's expertise in this space and growing influence in the Berkshire C-suite might make it even more aggressive allocating capital there?
Post New | Post Reply | Report Post | Recommend It!
Print the post
Members reply directly to ultimatespinach here — and replies get answered. Reading is free; so is joining the conversation. Join Shrewd'm »
This community has written 21,448 posts about Berkshire Hathaway. The article-length ones it recommended most:
BRK: Why Not XOM? · 62 recs · 2024
Second quarter comments · 60 recs · 2023
Berkshire's Profit Contributors · 57 recs · 2023
Summary of 2Q 2026 · 54 recs · 2026
3Q Summary · 53 recs · 2024
Unthreaded | Threaded | Whole Thread (66) |


Announcements
Berkshire Hathaway FAQ
Contact Shrewd'm
Contact the developer of these message boards.

Best Of BRK.A | Best Of | Favourites & Replies | All Boards | Followed Shrewds | Open Questions | Moving a community