Warren Buffett’s long record of picking winners made him a welcome presence last month in Tokyo. A recent move to increase the stakes held by Berkshire Hathaway in five general trading companies has been hailed as a vote of confidence in the country’s long-ailing corporate sector.
Buffett, who began accumulating stakes in the so-called sogo shosha three years ago, sees the shareholdings as a bet on a handful of neglected enterprises that are set to make attractive profits.
In between audiences with some of the country’s leading businessmen, the famed investor found time to expand on his impressions. “I’m just astounded,” he said of the five companies in which he now owns an identical 7.4 per cent stake. “They’re all different, and they’re all the same at the same time.”