Buffett sees Japan opportunities
By Jin Hyun-joo |
March 22, 2011, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
BILLIONAIRE investor Warren Buffett believes Japan's devastating earthquake is the kind of extraordinary event that creates a "buying opportunity" for shares in Japanese companies.
Japan, the world's third-largest economy, has been battling to bring an overheating nuclear plant under control after it was battered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that rattled global markets and prompted massive intervention in currency markets by the Group of Seven industrial nations.
"It will take some time to rebuild, but it will not change the economic future of Japan," Buffett said yesterday on a visit to a South Korean factory in Daegu run by a company owned by one of his funds. "If I owned Japanese stocks, I would certainly not be selling them.
"Frequently, something out of the blue like this, an extraordinary event, really creates a buying opportunity. I have seen that happen in the United States, I have seen that happen around the world. I don't think Japan will be an exception," he said.
Buffett, 80, heads Berkshire Hathaway Inc, which has substantial insurance and utility investments globally.
Buffett said Berkshire Hathaway, which at the year-end was sitting on US$38 billion of cash equivalent and last week bought US specialty chemicals maker Lubrizol for US$9 billion, was looking for more large-scale acquisitions anywhere in the world.
"The US is most likely where we will do something," he said at a ground-breaking ceremony for a South Korean factory run by a unit of an Israeli firm owned by his investment vehicle.
Buffett will have yet more money to invest after Goldman Sachs buys back US$5 billion of its preferred stock from Berkshire Hathaway, which the fund bought at the height of the financial crisis.
Japan, the world's third-largest economy, has been battling to bring an overheating nuclear plant under control after it was battered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that rattled global markets and prompted massive intervention in currency markets by the Group of Seven industrial nations.
"It will take some time to rebuild, but it will not change the economic future of Japan," Buffett said yesterday on a visit to a South Korean factory in Daegu run by a company owned by one of his funds. "If I owned Japanese stocks, I would certainly not be selling them.
"Frequently, something out of the blue like this, an extraordinary event, really creates a buying opportunity. I have seen that happen in the United States, I have seen that happen around the world. I don't think Japan will be an exception," he said.
Buffett, 80, heads Berkshire Hathaway Inc, which has substantial insurance and utility investments globally.
Buffett said Berkshire Hathaway, which at the year-end was sitting on US$38 billion of cash equivalent and last week bought US specialty chemicals maker Lubrizol for US$9 billion, was looking for more large-scale acquisitions anywhere in the world.
"The US is most likely where we will do something," he said at a ground-breaking ceremony for a South Korean factory run by a unit of an Israeli firm owned by his investment vehicle.
Buffett will have yet more money to invest after Goldman Sachs buys back US$5 billion of its preferred stock from Berkshire Hathaway, which the fund bought at the height of the financial crisis.
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