Billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett told CNBC on Monday that Occidental Petroleum shareholders are more likely to back the company's proposed acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum after the company decided to increase its cash portion of the offer to 78%. The Oracle of Omaha claimed that every company prefers cash deals and added that he hates to issue stock at Berkshire.
Buffett stressed that Berkshire vowed to invest $10 billion in Occidental contingent to its purchase of Anadarko, regardless of the financial details of the potential acquisition. He noted he personally "likes" the new bid but stressed he had "nothing to do with it."
Asked if Occidental's bid was a hostile one, the Berkshire CEO pointed out that Anadarko decided it was for sale and held talks with Occidental even before accepting Chevron's offer of $33 billion. He added that Occidental then believed it had a better offer and decided to present it to Anadarko, which is yet to make a decision to which company it will be sold.
