Posco, South Korea’s largest steel maker, was among the 17 largest equity holdings in Buffett’s portfolio as of the end of 2006, alongside one other Asian stock, PetroChina, China’s largest oil company. Berkshire Hathaway paid $572 million for a 4% stake in Posco. In 2002, Berkshire paid $488 million to accumulate a 1.3% stake in PetroChina.

Related: Buy China, Hold America, Short Europe (April 30, 2003)

Just found this great Buffett quote while rummaging around in the maoxian archives… it’s astonishing how much good stuff is buried somewhere on this site. ;-)

“Markets are there to serve you, not to instruct you. You can often find a couple of companies that are out of line. Find one; get rich. Most people think that what the stock does from day to day contains information, but it doesn’t. It isn’t just something that wiggles around. The stock market is the best game in the world. You can take advantage of people who have no morals. High prices inside of a year will typically be 100% of the low price. Businesses don’t change in value that much. That is simply crazy. There are extreme degrees of fluctuation, and Mr. Market will call out the prices. Wait until he is nutty in one direction or the other.”