The second-largest investor in Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) disclosed that it has again trimmed its stake in the food company.
3G Capital Partners, the Brazilian private equity giant founded by Jorge Paulo Lemann, disclosed that it sold 25.1 million shares at a price of $28.44 per share, bring its stake down about 9% to 245 million shares.
The private equity firm is the company’s second largest shareholder after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A). After the sale, 3G Capital still has 20% ownership of Kraft Heinz.
However, in a separate filing on Monday, Lemann increased his personal holding of Kraft Heinz stock by approximately $100 million. The sale also occurred during a periodic liquidity window by 3G investors in the fund that holds Kraft Heinz stock and a spokesman for Kraft Heinz added that 3G has no current intention to sell any additional shares.
Still, the latest disclosure by 3G comes amid a string of brand write-downs and financial woes at Kraft Heinz.
3G Capital gained a successful reputation on Wall Street for scaling back costs at the companies it invests in or acquires through strict budgeting, layoffs and other changes. The firm bought Heinz in 2013 and later merged the company with Kraft in 2015.
But that strategy hit a snag with a large consumer products company like Kraft, which is seeing a big competitive threat from a trend for fresher and healthier foods. Some investors believe 3G will be unable to revive Kraft through cost-cutting alone and may need to invest more to compete in this environment.
Kraft stock dipped $1.14, or 3.9%, to $28.48 early Tuesday, while Berkshire shares plummeted $3,903.00, or 1.2%, to $315,807.00
