OMAHA, Neb.: Billionaire Warren Buffett said Thursday his company had sold all shares of Chinese oil conglomerate PetroChina Co., a corporation that activist investors have urged him to divest in because of its ties to Sudan.
But the chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. told FOX Business Network the decision to sell was based on the shares' valuation, and had nothing to do with the Sudan connection.
"If it went down a lot I'd buy it back," he said. Berkshire made about $3.5 billion (€2.45 billion) on a $500 million (€349.67 million) investment, Buffett said, but "we still sold it too soon. I left a lot of money on the table."
Berkshire bought the PetroChina shares in 2003, when it traded for $140.78 a share, and the Omaha, Nebraska-base company's sales of PetroChina stock were first reported in July.
Last week PetroChina's stock reached new heights for the company. Shares traded in the United States fell $12.98 — or 4.92 percent — Thursday to close at $250.72 .
Human rights groups have accused the Sudanese government of using its oil wealth to wage genocide against the people in the western Darfur region, and some groups have suggested that PetroChina has supported the Sudanese government.
That is why activist investors have pushed Buffett to cut ties with PetroChina, but he rejected those calls at Berkshire's annual meeting in May.
Before the sales began, Berkshire was PetroChina's second-largest shareholder, after the company's unlisted state-owned parent, China National Petroleum Corp.
CNPC owns 88.2 percent of PetroChina, according to its 2006 annual report. And CNPC signed a 20-year oil deal with Sudan in June.
Buffett also said in the FOX interview that a recent New York Times report that he considered buying a stake in Bear Stearns Cos., America's fifth-largest investment bank, was not true.
He also talked about what happens to Berkshire once he retires.
Earlier this year, he outlined his plan to make one of the managers of its more than 60 different companies CEO when Buffett is gone, and to hire one or more young investment managers to groom for chief investment officer.
Buffett said Thursday the Berkshire board has looked at four outside candidates.
But, he said, "I'm not retiring."
Berkshire owns insurance, clothing, furniture, jewelry and candy companies, restaurants, natural gas and corporate jet firms and has major investments in such companies as Coca-Cola Co., Anheuser-Busch Cos. and Wells Fargo & Co.
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On the Net:
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.: http://www.berkshirehathaway.com
Investors Against Genocide: http://www.investorsagainstgenocide.com