Berkshire Meeting: Buffett Talks BHSI

In response to a question about Berkshire's relatively new insurance unit, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance, Mr. Buffett predicts that it will grow over time, "sometimes slowly, sometimes fast."

"How fast it grows depends on the market," he says. "We've got the talent there."

The unit is headed by Peter Eastwood. He and and three other American International Group executives defected to Berkshire in 2013 to create it. It turned a profit within 15 months and wrote $1.3 billion in premiums last year, making it a notable but not massive player in the industry.

Mr. Buffett says that BHSI don't intend to be a price cutter in the industry, as prices already aren't that attractive. But he says he wish he'd made the jump into that sector sooner, and didn't do it because he didn't have the right people before Mr. Eastwood came along.

Click here to see the full live coverage of Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting:

http://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/berkshire-hathaway-2017-annual-meeting-analysis

Write to Erik Holm at erik.holm@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 06, 2017 16:15 ET (20:15 GMT)