Billionaire Warren Buffett bets on battery power with Duracell purchase

Billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is to buy Duracell from Procter & Gamble, the No. 1 household products maker.

Buffett will swap the shares his firm owns in P & G - currently worth $4.7 billion (3.77 billion euros) - for the battery business.

Duracell controls more than a quarter of the global market for batteries.

Buffett described it as, "Not very exciting but a good, solid business" even though demand for Duracell's mainstay non-rechargeable alkaline batteries has waned due to increased demand for re-chargeable batteries used in electronic device.

And Tony Scherrer, director of research at Smead Capital Management said: "Buffett understands the power of Duracell and the cash flow it can bring."

It is another familiar name to add to Berkshire's stable of more than 80 businesses, including Benjamin Moore paint, the Dairy Queen fast-food chain and Heinz ketchup.

The sale is part of P & G's streamlining plans to shed slow-growing brands and focusing on about 80 businesses that generate most of its profit and revenue.

Source: EuroNews