2017.06.2820:44:00UTC+00Berkshire Close to Becoming BoA’s Majority Shareholder

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. may be on the brink of becoming the Bank of America Corp.'s biggest shareholder after the lender lifted its dividend after it got a green light from the Fed's stress test.

Bank of America increased its annual dividend by 60 percent to 48 cents per share from 30 cents, starting in the third quarter.

Buffett said an increase of such magnitude would likely trigger him to swap Berkshire's preferred shares into common shares now valued at around $16.7 billion.

The swap would make Berkshire the biggest shareholder of both Bank of America and Wells Fargo & Co, the third-biggest U.S. bank and increase by more than threefold a $5 billion investment it made less than six years ago.

Buffett had acquired $5 billion of BoA preferred stock with a 6 percent dividend or $300 million annually in August 2011, when investors worried regarding the bank's capital needs.