Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has slashed its interest in Tesco, reducing its stakeholding below 3%.

The investment company offloaded more than 245m shares in the beleaguered supermarket group on October 13, it said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.

Berkshire Hathaway owned 3.97% at the end of last year, or 301m shares according to Berkshire Hathaway’s annual report. The stake was worth £1bn at the time.

Buffett, the world’s richest investor, admitted earlier this month that his punt on Tesco had been “a huge mistake”.

Berkshire Hathaway first started buying shares in the supermarket group when Sir Terry Leahy was at the Tesco helm and built up its shareholding to almost 5% at one point.

Tesco shares have almost halved in value so far this year.