Warren Buffett\u2019s Berkshire Hathaway has revealed a $1.6 billion bet on the shares of a beleaguered US healthcare giant.<\/p>\n
Berkshire Hathaway has acquired 5 million shares in UnitedHealth Group, a health insurer which acknowledged it is under criminal investigation by the Department of Justice last month. The investment gives Berkshire a stake in United valued at $1.6 billion. <\/p>\n
Berkshire\u2019s position was revealed in a regulatory filing on Thursday night, sending shares in UnitedHealth up 8.1 per cent in after-hours trading on Wall Street to $293.38.<\/p>\n
Buffett owned about 1.18 million shares in UnitedHealth between 2006 and 2009, before selling his entire stake in 2010 as he more broadly distanced his interests from health insurers.<\/p>\n
Shares of UnitedHealth have fallen 53 per cent in the last year as the company has faced a jump in medical costs, federal investigations, a cyberattack and the fallout from the fatal shooting of Brian Thompson<\/a>, chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, outside a hotel in Manhattan in December.<\/p>\n UnitedHealth said in a July regulatory filing that it had proactively approached the Department of Justice after reviewing media reports about its participation in the Medicare programme, and that it is committed to co-operating with federal authorities.<\/p>\n