Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Warren Buffett said he was approached a year ago about insuring Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s assets before the investment bank filed for bankruptcy, and didn’t receive financial documents he requested.

Buffett was asked about backing Lehman while Barclays Plc weighed a bid for the firm, he said today at a conference in Carlsbad, California. He didn’t receive the information that he requested be sent to him by facsimile and later learned that there was a voice mail that he missed because he didn’t know how to retrieve it, Buffett said. New York-based Lehman filed for bankruptcy a year ago.

Buffett made the comments at the conference sponsored by Fortune magazine as he discussed unsuccessful efforts last year by money-losing firms to get financial support from his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. American International Group Inc., the insurer that got a U.S. bailout the day after Lehman’s failure, also sought a lifeline from Buffett, he said.

“Don’t waste your time on me,” Buffett said he told Robert Willumstad, then the chief executive officer of AIG, after reviewing the insurer’s finances.

Brandon Ashcraft, a spokesman for Barclays, and AIG’s Christina Pretto declined to comment.

Lehman and Barclays had been in talks about a transaction in the days before Lehman’s Chapter 11 filing, which didn’t result in a deal at the time. Within hours after Lehman declared bankruptcy, Barclays again approached and negotiated an agreement “very quickly,” according to court papers. Buffett had previously discussed his conversations with executives working to save the two companies in a Bloomberg Television interview in March.

Buying Stocks

Buffett, known as the “Oracle of Omaha,” said today Berkshire is currently buying stocks because “I am getting a lot for my money.” He built an equity portfolio valued at more than $48 billion by betting on companies including soft-drink maker Coca-Cola Co. and Kraft Foods Inc. that he believes have competitive advantages and enduring brand popularity.

He said that while U.S. efforts to avert a financial meltdown have succeeded in the short term, regulators will eventually have to deal with deficits caused by the spending.

“The government has turned on the fire hose, and it’s a huge fire hose,” Buffett said. “We are going to have to, at some point, wean ourselves from huge deficits, and that will be very, very difficult.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Hugh Son in New York at hson1@bloomberg.net; Jamie McGee in New York at jmcgee8@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 15, 2009 15:37 EDT