Warren Buffett's listed flagship Berkshire Hathaway cashed in HK$2.21 billion worth of PetroChina shares in the four trading days to September 13, the fourth time in two months the United States company has offloaded shares in the mainland oil giant.
According to its latest filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange, Berkshire cut its stake in PetroChina to 1.68 billion shares, or 0.94 per cent of the total issued shares.
The investment fund's peak holding in PetroChina was 2.34 billion shares, a 1.31 per cent stake, implying it has cut this by about 28 per cent in the past two months.
The most recent stake disposal disclosure by PetroChina's biggest independent shareholder comes as its share price jumped 30 per cent in the past two weeks, which might prompt Berkshire to dump more stock. The share price rose 4.84 per cent to HK$14.74 yesterday.
Many large capitalised state-controlled listed firms, such as PetroChina and China Shenhua Energy, have seen their share prices rally sharply, as investors bet on a narrowing of the valuation gap between the two sides of the border once mainland investors are allowed to invest directly in Hong Kong - expected to be as early as November.
Mr Buffett has also been under pressure by shareholders of his Omaha-based company and human rights activists to offload shares in PetroChina due to its parent company's investments in Sudan, where minorities have been massacred.
The sale raised the value of PetroChina stock sold by Berkshire in the past 2? months to about HK$7 billion.
