Berkshire Hathaway, owned by Warren Buffett, has agreed to pay a penalty for violating antitrust pre-merger notification requirements.

Berkshire Hathaway, the multi-national investment and holding company owned by billionaire Warren Buffet, has agreed to pay an $896,000 civil penalty for violating antitrust pre-merger notification requirements when it acquired a Chicago-based construction materials company last year.

Berkshire Hathaway, which is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, said in a statement that it had agreed to pay a civil penalty of $896,000 for failing to report the acquisition of an equity stake in USG Corporation last December.

“We made a mistake when we overlooked the filing requirement,” Buffet said in a statement.

The civil penalty, which requires court approval, settles charges made on Wednesday by the US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission that Berkshire violated the Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust law by failing to inform regulators about the transaction in advance.

The Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 requires the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department to be notified of transactions where the total value exceeds $283.6 million.  

“The commission requires compliance with the pre-merger notification rules, and will not hesitate to seek civil penalties against companies or individuals that fall short of their filing responsibilities,” said Deborah Feinstein, director of the FTC’s bureau of competition.

As a result of its acquisition of USG voting securities in December 2013, Berkshire Hathaway held approximately 28 per cent of the company, which was valued at more than $950 million.

According to the complaint made by the FTC, Berkshire Hathaway changed convertible notes it owned in USG into 21.4 million voting securities which exceeded the pre-merger reporting threshold of $283.6 million. The company subsequently made a corrective filing and acknowledged that the transaction should have been reported in accordance with the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.

Berkshire had owned convertible notes of USG since 2008. Buffet said that the firm was “effectively forced” to convert the notes when they were called for redemption by USG.

“This event triggered a filing requirement for Berkshire and we were late in realising that fact,” said Buffet.

In June 2013, Berkshire Hathaway made a similar corrective filing in connection with acquisition of $41 million of voting securities in Symetra Financial Corporation, a transaction that resulted in the firm exceeding the HSR Act’s threshold. On this occasion, the FTC decided not to take action, but called on the company to implement appropriate monitoring procedures going forward.

“Although we may not seek penalties for every inadvertent error, we will enforce the rules when the same party makes additional mistakes after promises of improved oversight,” said Feinstein.

According to Forbes Magazine, Buffet is the world’s third richest person and widely considered the most successful investor of the 20th century.

The American business magnate, also known as the "Wizard of Omaha", turns 84 this month and oversees a conglomerate of more than 80 businesses. The company wholly owns GEICO car insurance, Dairy Queen, Fruit of the Loom and Helzberg Diamonds, half of Heinz, an undisclosed percentage of Mars, as well as significant minority holdings in American Express and Wells Fargo.