Marmon Deal May Poise Buffett for Economic Rebound

The initial $4.5 billion Marmon payment will consume less than 10 percent of Berkshire's $47.08 billion of cash holdings. Buffett retains the power to make the giant acquisition he has said he covets, perhaps one worth $60 billion.

Berkshire has long been rumored as a potential investor in financial services companies battered by the global credit crunch. Defaults by homeowners and credit card users are expected to mount in 2008, hurting industry profitability.

In the CNBC interview, Buffett said "we haven't seen any (investments) we want to move on. That doesn't mean we won't in the next six months."

Buffett has made some unexpected bets in the recent past.

In 2005, Berkshire had made a $21.8 billion bet that the U.S. dollar would fall. Berkshire later unwound that successful bet as it found other non-U.S. investments, including Iscar.

And in 2002, Buffett bought distressed junk bonds of Level 3 Communications, even as many other investors wrongly bet the telecommunications provider would go bankrupt.

Betz, who has played bridge with Buffett, said the billionaire might soon take a liking to debt tied to "subprime" home loans for people with weak credit, saying prices "could be hammered down so severely that it can become compelling."

He concluded: "Buffett will continue to surprise everybody, and people will say, 'Gee, why didn't I think of that?"'