Buffett hunts acquisitions in Europe
Written on May 21, 2008
Warren Buffett, whose business and investment acumen has made him one of the world’s wealthiest men, embarked on a European tour Monday looking for possible acquisitions for his Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Starting in Frankfurt, continental Europe’s financial hub, the 77-year-old chairman and chief executive of Berkshire said he wanted to put his company "on the radar screens" of German family-owned businesses should they ever consider selling out.
Buffett said any potential acquisition would have to meet expectations though, including a demonstrated and consistent earning power, a pretax profit of at least $77.9 million a year and no danger of disappearing "over the next five to 10 years."
He also said any candidates would need to have a qualified management team in place. He did not single out any possible targets by name. In Germany, most family-owned companies are known as Mittelstand and they have suffered growing pains as some family members opt for different careers.
Buffet said again that his company had no plans to buy the Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) insurance operations.
Buffett said his trip to seek out opportunities among Europe’s biggest family-owned companies and will include stops in Switzerland, Spain and Italy.
Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire (BRK.B) has approximately $35 billion in cash and is looking to invest same day payday loans. Berkshire’s subsidiaries include insurance, clothing, furniture, natural gas, corporate jet and candy companies. Berkshire also has major investments in such companies as Coca-Cola Co. (KO, Fortune 500) and Anheuser-Busch Cos. (BUD, Fortune 500)
This week’s trip includes meetings in Lausanne on Tuesday and Madrid on May 21, wrapping up with a visit to Milan on May 22.
Filed in: finance.