Buffett hunting for big acquisition for Berkshire

[October 25, 2012]  OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Billionaire investor Warren Buffett says he continues looking for a major acquisition for his Berkshire Hathaway, but he's not willing to pay more to compete with other bidders.

Buffett says Berkshire has lost out on a couple of major acquisitions in recent years because private equity firms are bidding aggressively with borrowed money. Berkshire doesn't borrow for acquisitions.

The Berkshire chairman and CEO said Wednesday during an interview on CNBC that Berkshire has about $40 billion cash on hand currently.

Buffett says that Berkshire has made about 15 smaller acquisitions this year. He calls those bolt-on acquisitions because they are just added to Berkshire's existing businesses.

He also says he has added to Berkshire's Wells Fargo and IBM stock investments this year, but he'd still prefer to make a big acquisition.

[Associated Press]

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