China’s BYD (比亞迪) rolled out the welcome mat for billionaire investor and backer Warren Buffett, flying him to its south China base yesterday for a series of events to showcase its clean car initiatives.
Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has profited handsomely from a 10 percent stake it owns in BYD that has jumped nearly seven times in value since Buffett purchased it for US$230 million in 2008.
BYD invited Buffett to Shenzhen for a signing ceremony that will see the company build an energy storage power station with China Southern Power Grid (中國南方電網), Xinhua news agency reported.
Buffett, the world’s third-richest man, will also witness the market debut of BYD’s F3DM electric hybrid car nationwide, Xinhua said, citing a BYD spokesman.
Buffett, who arrived on a jet chartered by BYD, will also attend a ceremony to mark BYD’s sale of its millionth car, according to the China-based Phoenix net Web site, adding that BYD had spent several million yuan to bring Buffett to its headquarters.
Buffett is scheduled to visit BYD’s plants in Shenzhen and Huizhou today, followed by a trip to Beijing where he will co-host a charity banquet with Microsoft founder Bill Gates to meet about 50 wealthy Chinese to share ideas about philanthropy, Xinhua reported.
His trip will end with a visit to the city of Changsha, where he will visit a BYD electric bus plant.
The trip marks Buffett’s first to BYD since the stake purchase.
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