Berkshire Hathaway acquired Gen Re in December 1998 for approximately $22 billion.
Gen Re was the short name for General Re Corporation, a major insurance and reinsurance group headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. Berkshire announced the transaction in 1998 and completed the acquisition on December 21 of that year. The consideration, based largely on Berkshire stock values, was about $22 billion.
The purchase greatly expanded Berkshire’s reinsurance capacity and added General Re’s global property-and-casualty and life-and-health operations to Berkshire’s insurance group. It was Berkshire’s largest acquisition at that point and became one of the defining deals of Buffett’s expansion beyond traditional investments.
The name can cause confusion: “Gen Re” is not the same company as Swiss Re, Munich Re, or TransRe. Gen Re is the familiar brand name associated with General Re Corporation. Berkshire later reported difficulties in parts of General Re’s underwriting operations, but the acquisition itself remains a landmark in the company’s history.