Berkshire Hathaway buys into two other rails-CNBC
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NEW YORK, April 9 (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKa.N) (BRKb.N), which built a 10.9 percent stake in Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (BNI.N), has acquired stakes in two other rail companies, CNBC television said on Monday.
Citing an interview with the billionaire investor, CNBC said Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire spent $700 million on one of the additional rail investments and slightly less on the other.
It was not immediately clear in which other railroads Berkshire invested. The insurance and investment company was not immediately available for comment.
Buffett made his name by investing in companies with strong management and businesses that he considers undervalued.
A major railroad stock index, however, now sits near its recent peak. The Standard & Poor's 500 Railroads Index .GSPRAIL on Thursday closed at 393.85, just 2.6 percent below its record high set on Feb. 22.
The index includes CSX Corp. (CSX.N), Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC.N) and Union Pacific Corp. (UNP.N), along with Burlington Northern.
In a Friday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Berkshire said it owned 39,027,430 Burlington Northern shares, making it the company's largest shareholder. The market value of the shares was $3.23 billion as of April 5.
Burlington Northern shares closed Thursday at $82.72, CSX at $40.96, Norfolk Southern at $50.98 and Union Pacific at $103.20. Shares of all four companies rose about 3 percent in pre-market electronic trading.
(Additional reporting by Christian Plumb)
((Reporting by Jonathan Stempel, Editing by Derek Caney; Reuters Messaging: jon.stempel.reuters.com@reuters.net, 646 223 6317)) Keywords: BERKSHIRE RAILROADS/
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