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Saturday, May 09, 2009

Berkshire Hathaway buying securities since end-March


Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett said that the company has been buying securities since the end of the first quarter, and that it remains willing to make big acquisitions if they make sense. Berkshire has not made a large public acquisition lately, but the company has been buying securities since the end of the first quarter, Buffett said. "We are perfectly willing to make a deal for cash that makes sense to us," he added, noting that Berkshire would also sell securities to raise more cash to pay for acquisitions. Berkshire has less than US$20bn in cash, which is down from more than US$40bn just a few years ago. Buffett has said in the past that he won't let that get down to US$10bn. Buffett said on Sunday that Berkshire generates lots of cash every month and is willing to let cash levels fall below US$17bn or US$18bn. Berkshire has no outright currency positions currently, Buffett said later during a press conference, suggesting that the company has closed a trade on the Brazilian real which he first disclosed publicly in 2007. "There are so many things going on in the US right now that are interesting to us," Buffett said.