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Berkshire Hathaway's entry as a stakeholder in Tokio Marine has arrived at the same moment the Japanese insurance group is reviewing several multibillion-dollar acquisition targets, among them Australia's Suncorp and Canada's Intact Financial.
The case for a major overseas deal is readable enough. What changes with Berkshire in the picture is harder to define. The read-through from Berkshire's stake is not obvious.
It could reflect confidence in Tokio Marine's existing business. It could signal something more directional about where the group is heading. What is concrete is the geography of the targets.
Intact Financial is based in Canada. Either acquisition would cross a regulatory border and carry the scale that multibillion-dollar implies. The counterargument deserves its own paragraph.
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