When it comes to acquisitions, Warren Buffett says his biggest deal is yet to come. That could attract the 81-year-old billionaire investor to companies from Deere & Co. (DE) to Henkel AG.
Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A)’s chief executive officer, said the $204 billion company he built with takeovers and stock picks will continue to grow and that his $34 billion purchase of Burlington Northern Santa Fe completed in 2010 “will not be the limit,” according to an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Betty Liu after Berkshire’s meeting with shareholders on May 5.
The world’s most successful investor is eyeing bigger acquisitions as Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire generates $1 billion a month in free cash flow, swelling the company’s cash pile to $37.8 billion. While Buffett said at the meeting that he recently passed on a $22 billion deal, Deere, the largest maker of agricultural equipment, and Henkel, the German maker of Loctite superglue, are among 24 companies similar to Burlington Northern in size that meet the takeover criteria in Berkshire’s annual report, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“Buffett’s problem is one we’d all like to have -- he has too much cash,” Todd Lowenstein, a Los Angeles-based fund manager for Highmark Capital Management Inc., which oversees $17 billion, said in a telephone interview. “He can’t afford just to do small deals.”
Deere and Henkel have “high quality assets, dominant market share, are pretty reasonably priced,” he said. “Those meet the characteristics he’s looking for.”
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