Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. asked the Federal Reserve to allow it to hold as much as 24.99 percent of American Express Co., a stake that’s been growing because of the lender’s stock repurchases.
“This is an application to continue to retain American Express stock, not to buy additional shares,” Marina Norville, a spokeswoman for New York-based AmEx, said in an emailed statement. Berkshire applied to “increase the percentage ownership cap to 24.99 percent from the current 17 percent as a result of our share-repurchase program,” she said.