FT : German watchdog opened probe into Wirecard accounting last year

German watchdog opened probe into Wirecard accounting last year
Berlin-based FREP began an investigation after whistleblower allegations

Germany’s accountancy watchdog opened an investigation into payments company Wirecard last year after whistleblower allegations of accounting fraud, according to people familiar with the matter. 

The news of the probe by the Berlin-based Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel (FREP) comes just weeks after a special audit Wirecard commissioned from KPMG was unable to verify the genuineness of the fintech’s sales and profits from third parties between 2016 and 2018.

Wirecard’s shares have tumbled more than 40 per cent since the findings of the special audit were published.

Wirecard’s supervisory board commissioned the audit after the Financial Times reported whistleblower allegations, which focused on three of the company’s business partners.

Investors have long viewed Wirecard as one of Germany’s few fintech successes, and the group was propelled into the country’s prestigious Dax stock market index in 2018. 

Edgar Ernst, the president of FREP, told the FT, that “we are of course analysing the KPMG report very closely and are assessing what it means for us.” He declined to comment on whether a probe had been opened.

BaFin, the German financial regulator that has the power to order FREP to start investigations, declined to comment.

Last week, Elisabeth Roegele, BaFin’s executive director, told journalists that she thought it was “obvious” FREP would look into allegations against Wirecard. 

EY, which has been Wirecard’s auditor for more than a decade, declined to comment.

The Berlin-based accounting watchdog typically investigates about 80 companies a year and has previously found irregularities in about 20 per cent of those cases. In a high-profile ruling in 2018, FREP forced Adidas to book a €475m charge after concluding that the sportswear maker had been too optimistic about the potential of Reebok, which the group bought in 2005.

Hansrudi Lenz, professor for accounting at Würzburg University, said German regulators needed to “prioritise the Wirecard case” because it was draining investors’ confidence. “There’s a lot at stake.”

BaFin is examining Wirecard’s communications to investors about the KPMG report before its findings were released. The fintech group told shareholders that the special audit had found nothing untoward.

Since its publication, Deka Investment, one of Wirecard’s largest shareholders, has called for the dismissal of chief executive Markus Braun. The KPMG report was described by Mr Braun as a “big step forward” for Wirecard, which has promised a fundamental revamp of its compliance and governance. 

Last year Singapore police launched a criminal probe of the group’s Asian operations. German regulators also sought to protect Wirecard from speculators, announcing a two-month ban on the short-selling of its stock

The group has said it expects to be exonerated by the Singapore probe, but that some employees in the city-state may face criminal liability.

In a statement, Wirecard said FREP had scrutinised its accounting in the past without finding fault. It declined to comment on the current probe.

Wirecard is suing the FT for alleged infringement of “trade secrets” in its investigative reporting on the company, a claim that the FT denies and is contesting.

FT : Nasdaq to tighten requirements for companies seeking to list

Nasdaq to tighten requirements for companies seeking to list
Rules affect countries including China that have secrecy laws and restrict access to information

Nasdaq will tighten requirements for companies seeking to go public on its exchange, a move that will affect a set of countries that includes China.

The New York-based stock exchange will require companies to raise at least $25m in equity capital in an initial public offering or a sum equivalent to a quarter of the value of the group once listed, according to documents filed by Nasdaq to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.

The rules will apply to listings from countries such as China that have secrecy laws and regulations that bar access to information from US regulators.

The exchange has also mandated that companies from these regions hire a special adviser familiar with the levels of transparency and accountability required of US public companies if they do not have senior management that have worked at US-listed groups.

The changes follow the accounting scandal at Luckin Coffee, one of the biggest Chinese listings on the US stock market in recent years.

According to the regulatory filing seen by the Financial Times, Nasdaq noted that some companies “lacked familiarity with the requirements to be a Nasdaq-listed public company in the US or [were] otherwise unprepared for the rigours of operating as a public company”.

Nigel Stevenson, an analyst at accounting investigation firm GMT Research, said: “Obviously they don’t want to explicitly target [the rule change] at China but that’s clearly the main country they’re intending it to cover.”


Scrutiny of listings from China has increased after the implosion of Luckin Coffee, a would-be local rival to Starbucks. The start-up admitted in April to fabricating $310m worth of sales in 2019 and last week dismissed its chief executive and chief operating officer. Shares in the company, which was one of last year’s biggest IPOs, tumbled almost 75 per cent on the day the scandal was revealed.

The debacle spurred officials at the SEC and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to issue a joint warning to investors on Chinese companies’ book-keeping standards, which Nasdaq referenced in its submission on Monday.

“This would impact a lot of newly listed Chinese companies, particularly ones without much of a record and which had been brought to market relatively quickly,” Mr Stevenson added.

Close to a quarter of the 59 Chinese IPOs on Nasdaq since the end of 2016 were smaller than $25m, according to data from Dealogic, accounting for just 2 per cent of the funds raised by Chinese companies on the exchange during the period. However, these listings have performed poorly, losing on average 67 per cent of value from their IPO price.

Jason Elder, a partner at law firm Mayer Brown in Hong Kong, said the rule requiring management with experience of working at a US-listed company was intended to boost accountability to shareholders.

"Those rules are intended to get that voice in the room, so that when decisions are being made somebody will be thinking, ‘What do the rules say we should do as a public company?'" he said.

The Luckin scandal has also played into the hands of China hawks in Washington already emboldened by the Trump administration’s trade war with Beijing, once again highlighting the accounting risks faced by investors in US-listed Chinese companies.

In April, the SEC announced a meeting this summer to address issues of investing in companies with different levels of transparency. “Investments in emerging markets, including China, entail significant disclosure, financial reporting and other risks for US investors,” Jay Clayton, SEC chair, said.

>>> Stoxx 600 Pre-MArket Indications

  • Ryanair (RY4C TH) +4.1%
    • Irish Times: Ryanair not flying so high this year
  • TUI (TUI1 TH) +4%
    • TUI Mulls Selling or Discontinuing Loss-Making Units: FAZ
  • EasyJet (EJT1 TH) +3.7%
  • Simcorp (XCL1 TH) +3.2%
    • Simcorp Sees Increased Uncertainty as It Issues New FY Guidance
  • Carnival Plc (POH1 TH) +2.5%
  • ThyssenKrupp (TKA TH) +2.3%
    • Thyssenkrupp Weighs Steel, Submarine Sale in Survival Fight (1)
  • STMicroelectronics (SGM TH) +1.9%
  • CTS Eventim (EVD TH) +1.9%
  • Fraport (FRA TH) +1.4%
  • Puma (PUM TH) +1.3%
  • Rheinmetall (RHM TH) -0.7%
  • Alstom (AOMD TH) -0.8%
  • Lufthansa (LHA TH) -0.9%
  • Airbus (AIR TH) -0.9%
  • MTU Aero (MTX TH) -1%
    • Shares gained 16% Monday
  • Renault (RNL TH) -1%
  • Unibail (1BR1 TH) -1.2%
  • Hochtief (HOT TH) -1.5%
  • Imperial Brands (ITB TH) -1.6%
    • Imperial Brands First Half Adj. Oper Profit GBP1.47 Bln
  • Vinci (SQU TH) -2.1%
    • Shares gained 8.9% Monday

>>> TradeGate Pre-MArket Indications

DAX:
  • Deutsche Telekom (DTE TH) +0.9%
    • SoftBank Is Said to Plan T-Mobile Deal as Soon as This Week
  • Munich Re (MUV2 TH) +0.8%
  • SAP (SAP TH) +0.8%
  • HeidelbergCement (HEI TH) +0.8%
  • E.On (EOAN TH) +0.8%
    • CEZ, MVM Are Jointly Seeking to Buy E.ON’s Czech Innogy Unit: HN
  • Lufthansa (LHA TH) -0.4%
    • Lufthansa Stake Not a Must for Austria for Aid, Die Presse Says
MDAX:
  • Uniper (UN01 TH) +2.4%
    • Uniper Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank; PT 30 euros
  • CTS Eventim (EVD TH) +2.2%
  • Deutsche PBB (PBB TH) +1.9%
  • Fraport (FRA TH) +1.7%
    • Europe Travel Stocks Rise on Summer Optimism, Vaccine Hopes (1)
  • ThyssenKrupp (TKA TH) +1.6%
    • Thyssenkrupp Weighs Steel, Submarine Sale in Survival Fight (1)
  • Metro AG (B4B TH) -0.9%
SDAX:
  • Dermapharm (DMP TH) +9.2%
    • Dermapharm First Quarter Adjusted Ebitda EU49.4 Mln, +13% Y/y
  • Hornbach Holding (HBH TH) +4.3%
    • Hornbach Sees FY 2020/21 1Q Sales, Adj FY Exceeding Prior Yr’s
  • Corestate (CCAP TH) +3.9%
  • Salzgitter (SZG TH) +3.8%
  • Bilfinger (GBF TH) +2.4%
  • KWS Saat SE & Co KGaA (KWS TH) +0.5%
    • KWS Saat SE & Co KGaA Forecasts Net Sales
  • DWS (DWS TH) -1.2%

FT : Merkel and Macron make a bold bid to unlock recovery fund

Merkel and Macron make a bold bid to unlock recovery fund
Joint initiative marks a leap by Germany into the realm of EU borrowing

When it’s running smoothly, the Franco-German engine has the capacity to shift the European debate like nothing else. We may be seeing one of those moments now.

The joint appearance of Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron on Monday electrified the complex debate over the financing and deployment of a proposed recovery fund to pay for the post-pandemic reconstruction.

No one should think their joint proposal for a €500bn spending plan funded by EU debt issuance unlocks a quick and easy resolution to negotiations among national governments. All 27 member states need to be on board, as does the European Parliament, for their plan to turbo-boost the EU budget to reach fruition.

But Germany’s decision to back the idea of the EU borrowing money on a large scale and then handing it out as budgetary transfers to hard-hit parts of the bloc marks a huge shift by Berlin. Ms Merkel and Mr Macron’s announcement applies pressure on the so-called frugal states in the north to concede that at least part of the recovery fund should be distributed in the form of grants, rather than loans, to beleaguered countries.

It strengthens the hand of Ursula von der Leyen, commission president, as she tries to corral all 27 member states around a bold recovery plan.

It also responds to calls for Berlin to do more in the name of European solidarity following the damaging German constitutional court ruling this month calling into question European Central Bank bond-buying. And it detaches France from its earlier alignment with Italy and Spain over “coronabonds”, defusing some of the recent tensions between Paris and Berlin.

There are two key elements to the deal. Firstly, both countries want to empower the European Commission to borrow unprecedented quantities of money on the financial markets to create the €500bn recovery fund that will help support economic reconstruction efforts across the union.

The commission already has the ability to borrow money, but it has never been permitted to do so on this scale. Henrik Enderlein of the Hertie School in Berlin calls it a potentially “Hamiltonian moment”.

Secondly, Ms Merkel’s confirmation that the money would be treated as EU “budgetary expenditure” marked an important concession by Germany, which previously sided with those advocating loans to beleaguered states.

But many of the most difficult questions have been left open pending Ms von der Leyen’s expected announcement of a full set of budget proposals from the commission next week. Chief among them: if the money is paid out in grants, how exactly does the EU’s borrowing get repaid?

Mr Macron said that the answer is still — to put it gently — a subject of negotiation. The money “could be reimbursed by the member states by a repartition key that depends on their weight in the budget, by contributions that we could choose to decide on later, or by another mechanism”, he said.

Then there is the almost equally sensitive issue of who gets the money. Mr Macron and Ms Merkel were clear that it should go to the sectors and regions that need it the most. But the money is going to be spent through EU programmes, some pre-existing, others novel, in ways that Brussels has yet to explain.

Most critically, there is the political question: Austria’s chancellor Sebastian Kurz was quick out of the blocks on Monday to say that he had consulted with other frugal leaders and they are not thrilled:


The EU’s crisis response is now more than ever tied up with negotiations on the bloc’s next multiannual budget, known as the MFF. (The Franco-German plan is clear that the recovery fund is an adjunct to the budget.) The MFF has been the subject of a two-year war of attrition between the bloc’s capitals, and a hard road of compromise-building lies ahead to get a deal.

The last big joint Franco-German initiative in the realm of fiscal policy was the Meseberg Declaration in 2018, which was meant to pave the way to a significant euro area budget but which was ultimately watered down into near-nothingness by Germany.

This joint initiative has the potential to have far more powerful implications — if, that is, Berlin and Paris can convince their partners to come along for the ride.

>>> What to look at today - 19th of May 2020

Asian stocks rose Tuesday, spurred by a surge on Wall Street, on optimism economies may recover faster following early results for an experimental vaccine. Treasury yields dipped from five-week highs.
Equities advanced more than 1% across the region, with Tokyo, Sydney and Hong Kong outperforming, though the magnitude was less than in the U.S. Contracts on the S&P 500 fluctuated after a report that Nasdaq would tighten IPO rules, affecting some Chinese companies. Monday, the U.S. benchmark jumped the most in almost six weeks after Moderna Inc. said its vaccine tests yielded signs it can create an immune-system response in the body. Oil rose for a fourth day and stayed above $30 a barrel, though it trimmed an earlier gain.
US After Hours BIDU +8.1% up nicely on earnings; DVAX +33.7% up on COVID news; several stocks lower on stock offerings: MRNA -3.2%, CVNA -4.2%, GOSS -11.5%

Nikkei +1.78% Hang Seng +1.78% CSI +0.68% Shanghai +0.60.% Shenzen +0.86%

Eur$ 1.0920 CNH 7.1237 CNY 7.1106 JPY 107.41 GBP 1.2213 CHF 0.9723 RUB 72.6950 WTI$ (Jul) 31.87 +0.66%

S&P +0.04% Nasdaq +0.17% EuroStoxx +0.24% FTSE +0.20% Dax +0.24% SMI +0.42%

Macro :
- Merkel Offers Breakthrough Deal to Shield EU From Virus Fallout
- *EUROPE CAR SALES DROP RECORD 78% IN APRIL AS DEMAND EVAPORATES

Keep an eye on :
- ANA SM : Acciona Arranges Euro Commercial Paper Program for Up to EU1B
- ADKO AV : Addiko First Quarter Pretax Loss EU1.2 Mln, Est. EU0
- ANTO LN : Antofagasta Proposes to Cut 2019 Final Dividend by 16.3 Cents
- ATL IM : Atlantia Is Said to Restart Sale of Stake in Toll-Payment Unit
- AF FP : Air France to Gradually Resume Flights to 15% Capacity End-June
- BNP FP : BNP Paribas Lends Morocco $210m for Defense Deal: Decree
- CCL LN : Carnival Cut to Junk by Moody’s as Operations Remain Suspended
- COTN SW : *VERAISON VOTING RIGHTS IN COMET FALL TO 4.94% FROM 9.99%: SIX
- CSGN SW : *CREDIT SUISSE FILES MIXED-SECURITIES SHELF
- DMP GY : Dermapharm First Quarter Adjusted Ebitda EU49.4 Mln, +13% Y/y
- DTE GY : SoftBank Plans to Seek Buyers for About $20 Billion of its T-Mobile Shares
- EQNR NO : Equinor Issues EUR1.75b and $1.5b in Debt Capital Markets
- RF FP : Eurazeo SE First Quarter Net Asset Value Per Share EU78.40
- ERF FP : Eurofins Scientific to Offer 900k Shrs, Eurofins Raises EU535M in Shr Issue W/ Institutional Investors
- FLU AV : Flughafen Wien First Quarter Net Income EU15.6 Mln
- FKRAFT NO : Fjordkraft Offering by Holder Prices 15.5m Shares at NOK77/Share
- GEST SM : Gestamp First Quarter Net Income EU14 Mln, -66% Y/y
- GLEN LN : Zambia Rejects Glencore Copper Mine Closure Plan Again
- HBH GY : Hornbach Sees FY 2020/21 1Q Sales, Adj FY Exceeding Prior Yr’s
- INW IM : *TELECOM ITALIA IS SAID TO DISCUSS SALE OF 16% OF INWIT TO FUNDS
- IPN FP : Ipsen Says Cabometyx Extends Cancer Survival in New Analysis
- BAER SW : Julius Baer Assets Under Management CHF392 Bln, -8.2% Y/y
- KWS GY : KWS Saat SE & Co KGaA Forecasts Net Sales
- LEHM SW : Lem Full Year Dividend Per Share CHF40 Vs. CHF42 Y/y
- LLOY LN : Lloyds Prepares for Investor Backlash Over Bosses’ Pay: Sky
- LHA GY : Lufthansa Stake Not a Must for Austria for Aid, Die Presse Says
- MEL SM : *MELIA CANCELS DIVIDEND DUE TO CORONAVIRUS
- KN FP : Natixis Won’t Back Shale Oil & Gas; Sets Coal Withdrawal Targets
- NESN SW : Nestle to Seek Brazilian Arabica Coffee Tuesday (1)
- NIBC NA : NIBC Holding Commits to Pay Dividend Before Settlement
- NN NA : NN Sees IFRS Op. Pretax to Fall by EU30m/Year on Longevity Deals
- NOVN SW : Novartis Treatment Granted Orphan Drug Status by FDA
- NOVN SW : Novartis’s Avexis Gets EU Conditional Approval for Zolgensma
- OHL SM : OHL Gets Loan of as Much as EU140M, May Issue Bonds
- ROG SW : FDA Approves Roche’s Tecentriq for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
- SALM NO : Salmar First Quarter Operating Ebit NOK1.07 Bln, +32% Y/y
- SSO NO : Scatec Solar Share Sale Books Covered: Terms
- SIM DC : Simcorp Sees Increased Uncertainty as It Issues New FY Guidance
- SKFB SS : Bearing Maker SKF Lays Off 300 White-Collar Employees in Sweden
- SON PL : Sonae, Sonae MC Retail Unit Complete Two Refinancing Operations
- SOON SW : Sonova Full Year Sales CHF2.92 Bln, Est. CHF2.91 Bln
- SSE LN : Ovo Plans 2,600 Redundancies as Covid-19 Speeds SSE Integration
- SRCG SW : Salt, Sunrise in Pact to Deliver Fiber Based Broadband Services
- TELIA SS : Telia Gets Approval for Licensing OTT Rights to Discovery
- TKA GY : Thyssenkrupp Weighs Steel, Marine Sale in Historic Overhaul
- TIT IM : Telecom Italia Said to Discuss $1.6 Billion Inwit Stake Sale
- TUI LN ; TUI Mulls Selling or Discontinuing Loss-Making Units: FAZ
- WDI GY : German Watchdog Opened Probe Into Wirecard Last Year: FT

>>> Europe : Brokers Upgrades & Downgrades - 19th of May 2020

>>> Up
* Geberit Raised to Equal-Weight at Barclays; PT 400 Swiss francs
* Greggs Raised to Buy at Berenberg; PT 1,860 pence
* Hannover Re Raised to Hold at HSBC; PT 139 euros
* Howden Joinery Raised to Buy at Liberum; PT 600 pence
* Network International Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley
* Talanx Raised to Buy at HSBC; PT 36.50 euros
* TF1 Raised to Buy at Oddo BHF; PT 6.50 euros
* Uniper Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank; PT 30 euros
* William Hill Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

>>> Down
* Ashtead Cut to Hold at Liberum; PT 2,250 pence
* Avanza Cut to Hold at DNB Markets; PT 135 kronor
* Elekta Cut to Hold at SEB Equities; PT 104 kronor
* HSS Hire Cut to Sell at Liberum; PT 25 pence
* Inditex Cut to Neutral at Citi
* Remy Cointreau Cut to Neutral at Goldman; PT 105 euros
* Siemens Gamesa Cut to Neutral at Goldman; PT 15.50 euros
* Tubacex Cut to Underperform at CaixaBank BPI; PT 1.30 euros

>>> Initiation
* M8G GR Rated New Corporate at Edison Investment Research
* Seri Industrial Rated New Buy at UBI Banca; PT 6 euros
* Victrex Reinstated Buy at Jefferies; PT 2,200 pence


>>> Call
* European Gyms’ Structural Growth Story Remains Intact, RBC Says
* Greggs Raised With Balance Sheets Key in U.K. Leisure: Berenberg
* New Era Coming in Gambling, William Hill Up to Overweight: MS
* MS Still Positive on Payments, Upgrades Network International
* Royal Mail Sale Speculation Inflates Value; Berenberg Cuts PT
* Climate Change Puts Sampo’s If, Gjensidige in ‘Sweet Spot’: SHB
* Victrex Medical Arm Can Lead Recovery, Jefferies Starts at Buy

Fwd:Briefing; WRAPX; After Hours Summary: BIDU +8.1% up nicely on earnings; DVAX +33

After Hours Summary: BIDU +8.1% up nicely on earnings; DVAX +33.7% up on COVID news; several stocks lower on stock offerings: MRNA -3.2%, CVNA -4.2%, GOSS -11.5%

After Hours Gainers:

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: BIDU +8.1%

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news: ABUS +46.5% (reports "positive" follow-up data from Phase 1a/1b trial of AB-729 in chronic hepatitis B virus infection), DVAX +33.7% (to provide update on early-stage collaborations for COVID-19 vaccine; collaboration partner could commence Phase 1 trial as soon as July), DOC +7.9% (to join S&P MidCap 400), HP +4% (to join the S&P SmallCap 600), SDC +2.7% (files $2.8 bln lawsuit against NBC), KRYS +2.6% (commences public offering of common stock), BYD +1.4% (announces plans to reopen 7 properties), JPM +0.9% (maintains quarterly dividend), AVTR +0.4% (offering of 45 mln shares by selling stockholders), WST +0.1% (to join S&P 500)

After Hours Losers:

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: IQ -5.1%

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to news: BLPH -14.7% (stock offering), GMDA -13.2% (launches follow-on public offering), GOSS -11.5% (announces offerings of common shares and convertible senior notes), CLVS -6.8% (announces $85 mln stock offering), CVNA -4.2% (proposes offering of 5 mln shares), NVAX -3.4% (files for sale of up to $250 mln of its common shares), MRNA -3.2% (files for $1.25 bln common stock offering), CABO -2.6% ($400 mln stock offering), TMUS -2.4% (falls after hours on WSJ report that SoftBank is in talks to sell T-Mobile Shares to Deutsche Telekom), FSLY -1.8% (announces follow-on offering of 6 mln shares), SE -1.6% (proposes $1 bln convertible notes offering), DIS -0.7% (announces exec changes at some segments; also, Kevin Mayer, Head of Disney+ streaming service, is leaving to become CEO of TikTok according to WSJ)

Barrons : Hedge Funds’ Reports of Holdings Can Be a Great Investing Tool. Just N

Hedge Funds’ Reports of Holdings Can Be a Great Investing Tool. Just Not Right Now.

nvestors looking to mimic their favorite hedge funds may find themselves at a loss this quarter.

Investment managers with assets exceeding $100 million are required to disclose their long holdings 45 days after the quarter closes with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Traders often scour the filings, known as Form 13F, hoping to get insight into how Wall Street’s so-called smart money is positioned so they can piggyback off those trades.

And while the data isn’t perfect, it can sometimes give insights into hedge funds’ thinking . But with the extreme market volatility of the last two months, basing investment decisions on holdings from March 30 may be of little use.

The quarter close came just one week after the March 23 market low, when funds were feverishly trying to navigate the uncertainty. So-called stay-at-home plays became popular, but there is evidence that hedge funds have already moved out of some of those positions .

Of course, seasoned traders already realize the limits of trading on 13Fs. For starters, the information is roughly six weeks old by the time it is released. Also, funds are only required to hold their long positions— meaning that what may appear as a bullish stance on a company may actually be a hedge against a position that doesn’t have to be disclosed.

Fund type also matters for traders interested in researching 13Fs. The 13F of a global macro fund may be of little use, for example, because the long equity portion of the fund may be only a tiny portion of its total holdings. Also, the end-of-quarter holdings of a quant fund may similarly be of little use, given how rapidly the fund may roll in and out of positions.

Hedge funds that are predominantly long-only may be of most interest to traders looking for ideas, even though the data may be obsolete.

Filings for Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square confirm that the firm built a stake in Blackstone Group (ticker: BX) while also initiating a position in Park Hotels & Resorts (PK). The hedge fund’s stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), a long-held position, was trimmed following a significant run-up for the stock.

David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital, which has been bearish on Tesla (TSLA), added puts on the electric auto maker’s stock, while exiting positions in Tempur-Sealy (TPX), Consol Energy (CEIX), Scientific Games (SGMX), DXC Technology (DXC), and EchoStar (SATS). The fund initiated a stake in Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B).

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, meanwhile, increased its stake in PNC Financial Services (PNC) last quarter. It trimmed positions in other banks, such as Goldman Sachs (GS)—a longtime holding—and JPMorgan Chase (JPM). Last week, Barron’s also reported that Berkshire sold a portion of its stake in U.S. Bancorp (USB)