I was surprised that there are no non-US companies on Berkshires radar. Are there really none big enough?

The quote was "meaningful options", so I take that as entailing the whole list of key prerequisites: size, liquidity, investability, and in an industry with some control of its pricing and longevity. He's not going to put money into commodities, and almost certainly not banks, which cuts the list of big global firms by quite a bit. At some point I could see him putting money into Nestle, perhaps, but it's rarely cheap relative to its likely rate of progress of value.

I suspect investability is the key one here in terms of shortening the list. Mr Buffett is very keen on a company being based somewhere with a legal/political/cultural/governance setup that gives extreme reliability to ownership of the fruits of the business. I don't think he even feels comfortable putting material capital into Canada or the UK.

Jim

Berkshire Hathaway FAQ

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