2010-09-27 16:31

SHENZHEN - US billionaire investor Warren Buffett arrived in south China's boom town Shenzhen on Monday to attend a series of electric car marketing activities of China's fastest growing automaker BYD Co.

Buffett holds 10 percent of Hong Kong-listed BYD's stock, which he bought with about $230 million in September 2008. His share is now worth as much as $1.7 billion.

Wang Jianjun, a sales manager of BYD, said Buffett was invited as a guest to attend a ceremony to celebrate BYD's inking of an agreement for building an energy storage power station with China Southern Power Grid and the market debut of the company's F3DM electric hybrid car.

Buffett is scheduled to visit BYD's plants in Shenzhen and Huizhou cities in Guangdong province on Tuesday and leave for Beijing on Wednesday, where he will co-host with Bill Gates a charity banquet to meet about 50 wealthy Chinese to share ideas about philanthropy.

His trip will end in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan province, where he plans to visit BYD's electric bus production base.