Buffett says credit crunch creates buy opportunities

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said on Friday the global credit crunch has created some acquisition opportunities for his Berkshire Hathaway insurance and investment company.

Speaking on Fox Business Network, Buffett also said he had gotten "feelers" about investing in the struggling financial services industry, and would have considered them had the terms been different.

"Obviously the credit crunch has created some opportunities that wouldn't have been there seven or eight months ago," Buffett said. "But there's nothing planned about our actions."

In the last two months, such companies as Citigroup Inc (C.N), Merrill Lynch & Co MER.N and Morgan Stanley (MS.N) have received multibillion dollar investments from funds affiliated with sovereign investors.

Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire said it ended September with $47.08 billion (23.59 billion pounds) of cash, and until this week had had a quiet year for acquisitions.

But on Tuesday, it agreed to pay Chicago's Pritzker family $4.5 billion for 60 percent of Marmon Holdings Inc, which makes such things as railroad tank cars, pipes, wiring and water treatment products.

Then on Friday, Dutch financial services company ING Groep NV (ING.AS) (ING.N) said it would sell Berkshire its NRG NV reinsurance unit for about 300 million euros (221 million pounds).

Also Friday, Berkshire said it would start a municipal bond insurance unit.

"I just sit around here hoping the phone will ring, and that there will be a good idea at the other end," Buffett said in the Fox interview. "We're ready to move anytime, and then it just has to be the right thing."