Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Eitan Wertheimer, who has called himself Chairman Warren Buffett’s “travel agent” for finding opportunities outside the U.S., said he’s trying to bring the billionaire investor to Japan.

“I hope in a year from now to bring Warren over,” Wertheimer said yesterday in a Bloomberg Television interview. “I was talking with him about it.” Buffett, who visited Europe last year and China in 2007 to drum up business for his company, may visit Tungaloy Corp., the Japanese firm acquired by Berkshire, Wertheimer said in New York.

Buffett, 79, has been looking outside the U.S. for investment opportunities as the federal deficit swells. In 2006, Berkshire paid $4 billion for an 80 percent stake in Israel’s Iscar Metalworking Cos., the company Wertheimer’s father started in 1952. Wertheimer has said his most important role has become accompanying Buffett on trips and facilitating Omaha, Nebraska- based Berkshire’s deals and expansion abroad.

“When Warren Buffett gets out of bed in the morning there’s one thing on his mind, ‘What’s out there that will be an attractive addition to our universe of subsidiaries,’” said Frank Betz, a partner at Warren, New Jersey-based Carret Zane Capital Management, which owns Berkshire shares. “The Iscar people are well-connected and well-prepared tour guides.”

Iscar, a toolmaker that has manufacturing in countries including Israel, Japan, the U.S. and China, agreed last year to buy Tungaloy. Wertheimer said he couldn’t comment on whether Buffett, who is also Berkshire’s chief executive officer, would arrange meetings in Japan to explore investment opportunities. Carrie Kizer, an assistant to Buffett, said in an e-mail she wasn’t aware of any planned trip to Japan.

‘Asian Demand’

“I would guess that he would be looking at major Japanese companies that are successfully benefiting from the Asian demand, especially China,” Mitsushige Akino, who oversees about $645 million as chief investment officer at Tokyo-based Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co. “If Buffett really comes to Japan and says there is potential for the Japanese market, especially for those companies that are benefiting from the Asian demand, it would have quite a significant impact.”

Buffett, who built Berkshire into a $150 billion company by buying businesses ranging from insurance to energy and candymaking, had $24.5 billion of cash at the firm at the end of the second quarter. He’s been investing in companies hurt by the global recession since the credit freeze last year.

“We did have a wonderful tour in Europe trying to see the entrepreneurs,” Wertheimer said. “Every time we go, we meet a lot of interesting people. What comes out is a second story.”

Buffett agreed in 2008 to buy a minority stake in BYD Co., the Chinese maker of electric cars, in a deal that has generated a paper profit of more than $1 billion for Berkshire. The manufacturer of the world’s first mass-produced plug-in hybrid has surged sixfold in the past 12 months of Hong Kong trading.

Japan’s economy emerged from its deepest postwar recession on a second-quarter rebound in exports and consumer spending. Gross domestic product expanded at an annual 2.3 percent pace in the three months ended June 30, slower than the 3.7 percent reported last month, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News forecast the figure to be unchanged from the preliminary estimate.

Japan’s Economy

“The Japanese economy is much more tied to China” than before, Anil Kashyap, a professor of economics and finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, said in an interview. “If you were spotting trends and you had a view on China, one way to find some existing capacity that is well run is to buy a Japanese company.”

Iscar, based in Tefen, northern Israel, makes cutting gear for industries ranging from aerospace to auto manufacturing, for clients including Toyota Motor Corp. The company, which competes with market leader Sandvik AB, is starting to see signs of improving demand, Wertheimer said.

“You see it country by country, a little more a little less,” Wertheimer said. Iscar, which didn’t fire any workers during the slump, resumed five-day workweeks in September after the decline in sales prompted the company to scale back to four earlier this year, Wertheimer said.

Fixed-Income Holdings

Berkshire has been buying securities issued by governments outside the U.S. The company held about $11.1 billion in foreign government bonds in its insurance units as of June 30, compared with $9.6 billion three months earlier, Berkshire said in a regulatory filing on Aug. 7.

The value of holdings in U.S. Treasuries and so-called government sponsored enterprises slipped 5.3 percent in the three months ended June 30 to about $2.5 billion.

Buffett said in a New York Times commentary last month that the “monetary medicine” pumped into the financial system poses threats to the U.S. economy and its currency.

“Unchecked greenback emissions will certainly cause the purchasing power of currency to melt,” Buffett said. “The dollar’s destiny lies with Congress.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Betty Liu in New York at bliu17@bloomberg.net; Andrew Frye in New York at afrye@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 10, 2009 22:21 EDT