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.

We recorded equity method earnings from our investment in Kraft Heinz of $150 million in the first quarter of 2021 and $101 million in 2020. We received dividends on the common stock of $130 million in each of the first quarters of 2021 and 2020, which were recorded as reductions to the carrying value of our investment.

Shares of Kraft Heinz common stock are publicly-traded and the fair value of our investment was approximately $13.0 billion at March 31, 2021 and $11.3 billion at December 31, 2020. The carrying value of our investment was approximately $13.4 billion at March 31, 2021 and $13.3 billion at December 31, 2020. As of March 31, 2021, the carrying value of our investment in Kraft Heinz exceeded the fair value based on the quoted market price by $362 million (2.7% of carrying value).

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

March 27,

2021

December 26,

2020

Assets

98,664

99,830

Liabilities

48,233

49,587

	First Quarter
	2021		2020
Sales	$	6,394	$	6,157
Net earnings attributable to Kraft Heinz common shareholders		563		378

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 $3.1 billion as of March 31, 2021 and $4.0 billion as of December 31, 2020. Our equity method earnings from these entities in the first quarter were $101 million in 2021 and $199 million in 2020. During the first quarter of 2021, we received distributions from these other investees of $896 million, including a non-recurring distribution received from Pilot of $849 million. 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 commercial paper, which was $1.47 billion at March 31, 2021 and limited to $1.5 billion. Berkadia’s 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.

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 the largest operator of travel centers in North America through more than 950 retail locations across 44 U.S. states and six Canadian provinces and through wholesale distribution. 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 an additional 41.4% interest in Pilot in 2023, with the Haslam family retaining a 20% interest. As a result, Berkshire will become the majority owner of Pilot in 2023.