Seritage Growth Properties: Warren Buffett Bought WHAT?

Leave it to Warren Buffett to keep us guessing. The Oracle of Omaha just reported 8% stake in Seritage Growth Properties (SRG), a REIT spinoff of struggling old-line retailer Sears Holdings (SHLD). SRG owns a portfolio of 266 Sears properties, some of which it owns via joint ventures. But it’s essentially a dumping ground for Sears real estate and a vehicle for Sears Chairman Eddie Lampert to extract as much value as he can from a sinking ship. (I wrote about this earlier this year; see article.)

So, why would Warren Buffett want a piece of SRG? When I saw the news, I legitimately thought it was a joke. I actually had to check the SEC site to verify.

Interestingly, Mr. Buffett is not alone here. Contrarian value investor Bruce Berkowitz had amassed a 10% of the company as of the end of last quarter, though he’s been trimming back recently. Berkowitz has been a large shareholder of Sears Holdings for years. In fact, it’s his single biggest holding. So if he sees value in Sears, it’s not shocking that he would also see value in Sears’ spun-off property portfolio. (I wrote about Berkowitz and his highly-concentrated value portfolio earlier this year; see Seven Masters of the Universe.)

Both Warren Buffett and Bruce Berkowitz have had some high-profile mistakes in recent years. Sears has been a disaster for Berkowitz, and Buffett has lost a fortune in IBM (IBM). But both of these gentlemen have absolutely crushed the market over their careers, so when they make a large new position, it’s worth picking into the details.

First, we should clarify a point on size. Yes, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) now owns 8% of SRG, and Berkowitz’s fund owns 10%. But SRG is a tiny REIT with a market cap of about $1 billion. So Berkshire Hathaway’s position, which had a cost basis of just $70 million, is a tiny drop in the bucket. Berkshire Hathaway has a market cap of well over $300 billion. So while the SRG purchase looks big in the headlines, it’s pretty much pocket change for Warren Buffett, the equivalent of buying a Cherry Coke (Buffett’s favorite…) for the rest of us.