Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett speaks during an interview with Liz Claman on Fox Business Network's Countdown to the Closing Bell, on May 7, 2018, in Omaha, Neb.Nati Harnik/The Associated Press
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. BRK-A-N has set its sights on making a major new investment in Canada.
The U.S. conglomerate holding company, whose top shareholder is the 93-year-old billionaire, held its annual meeting on Saturday, live-streamed from a packed arena in Omaha, Neb.
Greg Abel, who is vice-chair of Hathaway’s non-insurance operations, is a Canadian who is widely seen to be Mr. Buffett’s successor in the executive suite and eventually become the company’s chair.
Members of Berkshire’s leadership team are now mulling options for a new foray into Canada.
“When we see anything that’s suggesting an idea that’s of a size with interest here and meets other requirements, they don’t have any hesitancy about putting big money in Canada,” Mr. Buffett said during the meeting. “There are things we actually can do fairly well, where Canada could benefit from Berkshire’s participation.”
The Oracle of Omaha heaped praise on Canada. “We do not feel uncomfortable in any way, shape or form, putting our money into Canada,” Mr. Buffett said.
“We don’t have any mental blocks about that country. And of course, there’s a lot of countries we don’t understand at all. So Canada, it’s terrific when you’ve got a major economy – not the size of the U.S., but a major economy that you absolutely, you feel confident about operating there.”
Mr. Abel also serves as chair of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, which includes existing Canadian assets.
Assets north of the border include Calgary-based Berkshire Hathaway Energy Canada, which operates 13,000 kilometres of transmission lines and 300 substations in Alberta through AltaLink.
“It goes across many of our operating entities and then, as Warren touched on, all the businesses that we have a piece of that we’re invested in are up in Canada. So the presence is significant,” Mr. Abel said during the meeting. “We’re always looking at making incremental investments there because it’s an environment we’re very comfortable with.”
Mr. Abel recently received the Canadian Business Leader Award in Edmonton from the University of Alberta, where he graduated with a bachelor of commerce in 1984. At the university, he had plans to major in finance but later switched to accounting.
While it has been four decades since he graduated from the Edmonton university, he still visits friends and family regularly in Alberta, and he continues to monitor the Canadian economy.
“I would say the economy moves very closely to the U.S. So the results we’re seeing out of our various businesses that report both the U.S. and Canadian operations aren’t drastically different,” Mr. Abel said. “On the energy side, for example, we make very substantial investments up there in Alberta. But again, it’s very consistent with how that economy is growing.”
He is the nephew of the late Sid Abel, a hockey Hall of Famer who played for the Detroit Red Wings.
Brent Jang