By Eric Rosenbaum 03/24/10 - 09:04 AM EDT
OMAHA, Neb. (TheStreet) -- Is South Korea's steel giant Posco the Kraft(KFT) of the metals world?
Berkshire Hathaway(BRK.B) was none too happy with Kraft last fall when it went full-throttle in its acquisition of British candymaker Cadbury, and now Warren Buffett is sounding alarms about Posco's plans to acquire shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.
Posco told Bloomberg that shareholders, including Buffett, have asked the steel maker to begin a "thorough" review of the bid, as the shipbuilding industry could be headed for a trough. The Korea Economic Daily was the first to report Buffett's latest reservations about a Berkshire Hathaway holding's acquisition plans. The Asian paper said that Buffett indicated he won't support the bid as it stands, though Buffett did not respond to a request for comment by Bloomberg.
Last fall, Buffett's vocal criticisms of Kraft's plans got the food conglomerate to back off from using a significant portion of its shares to finance the acquisition of Cadbury.
Buffett was busy on the acquisition front earlier this week, announcing that Berkshire Hathaway had acquired its first liquor distribution company .
Daewoo's shares slumped on the news, while Posco shares rose in Asia on the report that the sale might not go through.
Final bids for the shipbuilder are due in mid April.
Both Kraft and Posco are among the largest public stocks in the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio.
-- Reported by Eric Rosenbaum in New York.
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