Berkshire Hathaway cuts stake in China's BYD to below 5%

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway reduced its stake in BYD to below 5%, in what could be the final time Berkshire discloses stock sales in China's largest producer of electric vehicles.

Berkshire lowered its stake in BYD's issued H-shares to 4.94% from 5.06% on July 16, according to a Monday filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The stake had been 7.02% as recently as June 11.

Hong Kong requires larger shareholders to disclose sales when their resulting stakes fall below whole percentage numbers. Disclosures can stop once ownership stakes fall below 5%.

Berkshire began investing in Shenzhen-based BYD in 2008 when it paid $230 million for about 225 million shares, then equal to a 10% stake.

It began selling BYD shares in August 2022, after the stock price had risen more than 20-fold, and two months after it set a record high.

Charlie Munger, Berkshire's late vice chairman, was the impetus behind the original BYD investment. Berkshire invests mainly in the United States.

BYD was founded by Chinese chemist Wang Chuanfu in 1995 as a maker of rechargeable batteries.

It surpassed billionaire Elon Musk's Tesla last year as the world's largest electric vehicle maker, though Tesla has since regained the top spot. In the second quarter, BYD sold 426,039 electric vehicles while Tesla sold 443,956.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Emeia Sithole-Matarise)