(5)

Other investments

Other investments include preferred stock of Bank of America Corporation (“BAC”), warrants to purchase common stock of BAC and preferred stock of Restaurant Brands International, Inc. (“RBI”) and in 2015 also included preferred stock of Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company (“Wrigley”) and The Dow Chemical Company (“Dow”). Other investments are classified as available-for-sale and carried at fair value and are shown in our Consolidated Balance Sheets as follows (in millions).


	Cost				Fair Value
	December 31,				December 31,
	2016		2015		2016		2015
Insurance and other	$	6,720	$	9,690	$	14,364	$	15,683
Finance and financial products		1,000		3,052		2,892		5,719

	$	7,720	$	12,742	$	17,256	$	21,402

In 2008, we purchased $2.1 billion of Wrigley preferred stock pursuant to a shareholder agreement in conjunction with Mars Incorporated’s (“Mars”) acquisition of Wrigley. Pursuant to certain put and call provisions in the shareholder agreement, up to 50% of our original investment was redeemable over a 90-day period scheduled to begin on October 6, 2016. In September 2016, pursuant to an agreement entered into in August 2016, Mars acquired all of our Wrigley preferred stock for approximately $4.56 billion, which included a prorated dividend that would have otherwise been payable in October 2016.

In 2009, we acquired 3,000,000 shares of Series A Cumulative Convertible Perpetual Preferred Stock of Dow (“Dow Preferred”) for approximately $3 billion. In December 2016, Dow exercised its option to convert the Dow Preferred into 72.6 million shares of common stock. As of December 31, 2016, all shares of common stock received upon the conversion had been sold. The Dow Preferred was entitled to dividends at a rate of 8.5% per annum.

We currently own 50,000 shares of 6% Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock of BAC (“BAC Preferred”) with a liquidation value of $100,000 per share and warrants to purchase 700,000,000 shares of common stock of BAC (“BAC Warrants”). The BAC Preferred is redeemable at the option of BAC beginning on May 7, 2019 at a redemption price of $105,000 per share (or $5.25 billion in aggregate). The BAC Warrants expire in 2021 and are exercisable for an additional aggregate cost of $5 billion ($7.142857/share).

We currently own Class A 9% Cumulative Compounding Perpetual Preferred Shares of RBI (“RBI Preferred”) having a stated value of $3 billion. RBI, domiciled in Canada, is the ultimate parent company of Burger King and Tim Hortons. The RBI Preferred is entitled to dividends on a cumulative basis of 9% per annum plus an additional amount, if necessary, to produce an after-tax yield to Berkshire as if the dividends were paid by a U.S.-based company. The RBI Preferred is redeemable at the option of RBI beginning on December 12, 2017. If not redeemed prior to December 12, 2024, we can cause RBI to redeem the RBI Preferred. In either case, the redemption price will be 109.9% of the stated value of such shares.