Another Oligarch Spat: Buffett's LBO Criticism Has `Agenda,' Blackstone's Blitzer Says

Bloomberg reports:

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s criticism of leveraged buyout firms helps his “agenda” as a rival of those companies, Blackstone Group LP senior managing director David Blitzer said.

Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. competes with private equity firms in acquiring assets, Blitzer, 41, told reporters on the sidelines of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association’s annual conference in London today.

He “has an agenda as relates to buying assets and he’s running around competing with us, so I’d take a little bit of a grain of salt,” Blitzer said. “That said, Buffett is Buffett. He’s obviously amazing, but he’s got his own agenda which at least one should be aware of.”

Buffett, chairman of Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire, said last month he avoids acquiring companies from LBO firms because they focus on “exit strategy” and “don’t know the business.” The 80-year-old also said he’d never acquired a company out of private-equity ownership.