Li Lu of Himalaya Capital, who introduced Buffett’s Berkshire to BYD, dumps Chinese EV maker’s shares for US$309 million
- Himalaya Capital sold 10.8 million of H shares last week for about HK$2.44 billion (US$309 million), according to filings
- Li, who introduced BYD to Buffett’s Berkshire, has trimmed his stake to 6 per cent while investing legend stays the course
The fund sold more than 3.63 million H shares at an average price of HK$224.20 each on Friday, after offloading 7.14 million shares a day earlier at HK$227.60, according to Hong Kong stock exchange filings. The sales reduced its stake to 6 per cent, from 7.03 per cent at the start of the year.
BYD shares fell 2.4 per cent in Hong Kong on July 8 and by another 1.6 per cent to HK$216.20 on July 9 when the transactions took place. The stock has risen 5.3 per cent so far this year to HK$213.80 on Thursday.
Himalaya Capital is founded by Chinese born American Li Lu in 1997, who gained fame for introducing Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway to BYD. Berkshire is still staying the course with its last reported holding of 225 million H shares acquired during the global financial crisis in 2008 for about US$230 million.
Berkshire’s stake, equivalent to 7.9 per cent of BYD’s enlarged capital base, or 21.5 per cent of its H shares at the end of March, is worth about US$6.2 billion at current market price.