Berkshire and its subsidiaries hold investments in certain businesses that are accounted for pursuant to the equity method. Currently, the most significant of these is our investment in the common stock of The Kraft Heinz Company (“Kraft Heinz”). Kraft Heinz is one of the world’s largest manufacturers and marketers of food and beverage products, including condiments and sauces, cheese and dairy, meals, meats, refreshment beverages, coffee and other grocery products. Berkshire currently owns 325,442,152 shares of Kraft Heinz common stock representing 26.6% of the outstanding shares.

Shares of Kraft Heinz common stock are publicly-traded and the fair value of our investment was approximately $8.1 billion at March 31, 2020 and $10.5 billion at December 31, 2019. The carrying value of our investment was approximately $13.6 billion at March 31, 2020 and $13.8 billion at December 31, 2019.

As disclosed in Berkshire’s Form 10-Qs for the first three quarters of 2019, Kraft Heinz’s financial statements for the first and second quarters of 2019 were not available until August 13, 2019 when Kraft Heinz filed financial statements for those periods with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Thus, Berkshire did not record equity method earnings attributable to Kraft Heinz for each of those periods until our third quarter of 2019. Our equity method earnings for the first quarter of 2020 were $101 million. We received dividends on the common stock of $130 million in each of the first quarters of 2020 and 2019, which were recorded as reductions to the carrying value of our investment.

As of March 31, 2020, the carrying value of our investment in Kraft Heinz exceeded the fair value based on the quoted market price by $5.5 billion (40.4%). In light of that fact, we evaluated our investment in Kraft Heinz for impairment. We utilize no bright-line tests in such evaluations. Based on the available facts and information regarding the operating results of Kraft Heinz, our ability and intent to hold the investment until recovery, the relative amount of the decline, and the length of time that fair value was less than carrying value, we concluded that recognition of an impairment loss in earnings was not required. However, we will continue to monitor this investment and it is possible that an impairment loss will be recorded in earnings in future periods based on changes in facts and circumstances or intentions.

Summarized consolidated financial information of Kraft Heinz follows (in millions).

March 28,

2020

December 28,

2019

Assets

104,073

101,450

Liabilities

52,949

49,701

	First Quarter
	2020		2019
Sales	$	6,157	$	5,959
Net earnings attributable to Kraft Heinz common shareholders		378		405

Other investments accounted for pursuant to the equity method include our investments in Berkadia Commercial Mortgage LLC (“Berkadia”), Pilot Travel Centers LLC (“Pilot”), and Electric Transmission Texas, LLC (“ETT”). The carrying value of our investments in these entities was approximately $3.9 billion as of March 31, 2020 and $3.7 billion as of December 31, 2019. Our equity method earnings from these entities in the first quarter were $199 million in 2020 and $167 million in 2019. Additional information concerning these investments follows.

We own a 50% interest in Berkadia, with Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (“Jefferies”) owning the other 50% interest. Berkadia is a servicer of commercial real estate loans in the U.S., performing primary, master and special servicing functions for U.S. government agency programs, commercial mortgage-backed securities transactions, banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions. A source of funding for Berkadia’s operations is through its issuance of commercial paper, which is currently limited to $1.5 billion. On March 31, 2020, Berkadia’s commercial paper outstanding was $1.47 billion. The commercial paper is supported by a surety policy issued by a Berkshire insurance subsidiary. Jefferies is obligated to indemnify us for one-half of any losses incurred under the policy. In addition, a Berkshire Hathaway Energy Company subsidiary owns a 50% interest in ETT, an owner and operator of electric transmission assets in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas footprint. American Electric Power owns the other 50% interest.

In 2017, we acquired a 38.6% interest in Pilot, headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. Pilot is one of the largest operators of travel centers in North America, supplying more than 11 billion gallons of fuel per year via more than 900 retail and fueling locations across 44 U.S. states and 6 Canadian provinces. The Haslam family currently owns a 50.1% interest in Pilot and a third party owns the remaining 11.3% interest. We also entered into an agreement to acquire in 2023 an additional 41.4% interest in Pilot with the Haslam family retaining a 20% interest. As a result, Berkshire will become the majority owner of Pilot in 2023.