Billionaire investing icon Warren Buffett said on September 08 there are dozens of countries in which his sprawling Berkshire Hathaway Inc conglomerate would be interested in buying new businesses. Berkshire earlier this year agreed to acquire a German motorcycle apparel and accessories retailer - a purchase that Buffett described as an advertisement to markets that he is shopping abroad.
"It was an ad. It was an ad that paid us," said Buffett, 85, who over the past five decades has built Berkshire Hathaway into one of the world's most valuable companies.
Buffett - the world's third richest person, according to Forbes, with a fortune of $72.7 billion - is avidly followed by investors, and his opinions on companies and assets move markets globally.
He spoke to Reuters in an interview while in New York for the Glide Foundation's 16th annual event charity lunch. Glide is a non-profit in San Francisco's Tenderloin district that provides food, healthcare, rehabilitation and other services to the poor and homeless. Buffett said he is most likely to hunt for acquisition targets in big economies.
"I like larger economies simply because we want to buy things of size, but there's dozens of countries I would be delighted to buy in," he said.
Buffett is particularly known for acquisitions: Berkshire Hathaway now includes more than 80 companies, selling everything from ice cream to insurance.
Berkshire Hathaway ended the second quarter with $66.59 billion of cash. Since then the company announced it had agreed to purchase Precision Castparts Corp in a deal that values the maker of aerospace and other parts at $32.3 billion.
Berkshire Hathaway also recently issued debt in euros, and Buffett said he would consider issuing more debt in the future denominated in foreign currencies.
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