A takeover of Berkshire Hathaway’s largest pension funds allowed Warren Buffett’s two investment protégés, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, to make bigger bets such as the $1bn stake in Apple that was disclosed this week.

接手伯克希尔哈撒韦公司(Berkshire Hathaway)旗下最大的养老基金，使沃伦•巴菲特(Warren Buffett)的两名投资门生托德•库姆斯(Todd Combs)和特德•韦施勒(Ted Weschler)能够进行更大手笔的投资，比如本周披露的斥资10亿美元买入苹果(Apple)股票。

The former hedge fund managers are expected to assume control of the $2.3bn fund at Precision Castparts, the aerospace supplier Mr Buffett acquired this year, on top of other Berkshire subsidiary pension funds that have already swelled their investment portfolio to $9bn apiece.

这两位前对冲基金经理将接管巴菲特今年收购的航空航天业供应商精密铸件公司(Precision Castparts)的23亿美元基金，在此之前，他们接管的其他伯克希尔旗下的养老基金已经使他们各自管理的投资组合扩大到了90亿美元。

The expanded firepower enabled one of the pair to make the distinctly un-Buffettlike investment in Apple, and has helped Berkshire widen its investment activities into industries, including technology, where Mr Buffett is uncomfortable.

扩大的财力让两人中的其中一人做出了一个明显不符合巴菲特风格的决定——投资苹果，这帮助伯克希尔将投资活动扩大到一些巴菲特并不习惯投资的行业，包括科技业。

“They certainly have a more extensive knowledge of certain industries and activities in business that have developed in the last 10 or 15 years,” Mr Buffett said at Berkshire’s annual meeting last month.

“对过去10年或者15年发展起来的某些行业或者商业活动，他们无疑拥有更广泛的认识，”巴菲特上个月在伯克希尔的年会上说。

Mr Combs and Mr Weschler have also allowed Mr Buffett to realise a long-held ambition to fire many of the external fund managers who ran Berkshire subsidiary company pension funds and manage the funds in-house.

库姆斯和韦施勒还让巴菲特实现了一个他长期以来的抱负——解雇管理着伯克希尔子公司养老基金的许多外部基金经理，转为由公司内部管理这些基金。

The result is that several Berkshire funds have a strikingly different investment profile to typical corporate pension funds. Instead of a diversified portfolio of bonds and equities, Mr Combs and Mr Weschler are invested in a small number of stocks. “One has seven or eight positions and the other one has maybe 13 or 14,” Mr Buffett said, although he has declined to say whose investments are whose.

结果是，几只伯克希尔旗下基金的投资组合与典型的公司养老金截然不同。库姆斯和韦施勒只投资少数几种股票，而非持有由多种债券和股票组成的多样化投资组合。“一人投了7只或8只股票，另一人大概投了13或者14只股票，”巴菲特说，尽管他拒绝透露谁是哪一种。

At Berkshire’s railways subsidiary, BNSF, 90 per cent of the $2.06bn fund is now invested in equities, and its most recent annual report revealed that just three stocks account for 47 per cent of the fund’s assets.

伯克希尔旗下铁路公司北伯林顿铁路公司(BNSF)的20.6亿美元基金现在90%投资于股票，其最新的年报显示，仅仅3只股票就占了该基金资产的47%。

Lubrizol’s $585m pension fund was 92 per cent invested in equities at the end of 2014, up from 66 per cent three years earlier, according to their most recent regulatory filings. FlightSafety’s $377m fund was 88 per cent in stocks, up from 39 per cent at the end of 2011.

根据路博润(Lubrizol)提交给监管部门的最新报告，2014年底，该公司5.85亿美元的养老基金有92%投资于股票，而3年前这个数字为66%。FlightSafety的3.77亿美元基金有88%投资于股票，而2011年底这个数字为39%。

Berkshire’s $32.7bn acquisition of Precision Castparts — a company in which Mr Combs had earlier bought a small stake — closed in January and its pension fund is expected to follow a similar model, although the transition requires approval and could take several years.

伯克希尔斥资372亿美元收购精密铸件的交易在1月完成（此前库姆斯曾买入该公司的少量股权）。该公司的养老基金预计也将遵循类似的模式，尽管交接还需要得到批准，可能会花几年时间。

Mr Buffett has long argued that equities will outperform over the long run, even if they are sure to be more volatile, and Berkshire could use its $58bn cash pile to top up the funds if equity markets fall or his protégés’ bets turn sour. Mr Buffett declined to comment.

长期以来，巴菲特一直主张，即使股票必定波动性更大，但从长期来看股票的表现更为优秀。而且，如果股票市场下跌，或者他的门生们的投资失败，伯克希尔也可以利用其580亿美元的现金来补足这些基金。巴菲特拒绝置评。

The delegation of authority to Mr Combs and Mr Weschler partly reflects how Berkshire’s investment portfolio has become less central to the company, and to Mr Buffett’s role as chief executive. About two-thirds of the company’s $342bn market value resides in its operating companies, which include some of the largest rail infrastructure, insurance companies and utilities in the US, and a key part of Mr Buffett’s job is allocating capital investment between them.

将权力下放给库姆斯和韦施勒，部分反映出伯克希尔的投资组合对该公司、以及对巴菲特的首席执行官之位而言，不再居于核心地位。伯克希尔3420亿美元市值的三分之二来自于其所运营的公司，包括美国最大的一些铁路基础设施、保险公司和公共事业，巴菲特的一项重要工作是在它们之间分配资本。

“He has built a broader brain trust than he ever had before,” said George Washington University professor Larry Cunningham, author of Berkshire Beyond Buffett.

“他已经建立了一个比以往任何时候都庞大的智囊团，”乔治华盛顿大学(George Washington University)教授、《巴菲特之后的伯克希尔》(Berkshire Beyond Buffett)的作者拉里•坎宁安(Larry Cunningham)表示。

“Berkshire is in rail, energy, homebuilding and industrial companies because Mr Buffett found people that he could trust to run those.”

“伯克希尔拥有铁路、能源、住宅建设和工业公司，因为巴菲特找到了他能够信任的人来运营这些公司。”

Mr Buffett has said that his job will be split after his retirement with a new chief executive, who observers believe will come from the operating companies, and a separate person, or people, overseeing the investment portfolio.

巴菲特说过，在他退休以后，他的职责将拆分，将有一位新的首席执行官（观察人士认为将来自伯克希尔旗下运营公司），再加上一位或数位负责投资组合的人。