Warren Buffett has defended his involvement in a tax inversion deal that will transfer Burger King’s headquarters to Canada as part of its $11.4bn acquisition of coffee and doughnuts chain Tim Hortons.
Mr Buffett, whose conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway will provide $3bn of financing for the deal, said Tim Hortons’ roots in Canada and limited US presence was the main reason for moving the combined group’s headquarters north of the border, not tax.
“Tim Hortons earns more money than Burger King does,” he told the Financial Times. “I just don’t know how the Canadians would feel about Tim Hortons moving to Florida. The main thing here is to make the Canadians happy.”