BUSINESS BRIEF

Market for Detroit debt to improve, Buffett says

11/26/2013

DETROIT — Investor Warren Buffett said Tuesday he expects the market for Detroit’s debt to pick up and bond insurers to begin backing the debt once the city submits an appropriate recovery plan to bankruptcy court.

Mr. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Assurance Corp. reinsures more than $380 million of Detroit’s secured sewer debt originally insured by Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. The city, awaiting a decision from a federal judge on whether it is eligible for bankruptcy, has $18.5 billion in debt and liabilities.

Speaking at a Goldman Sachs event to promote entrepreneurship in Detroit, the Berkshire Hathaway chairman and chief executive said the market for Detroit’s debt would pick up “as soon as a plan comes through that makes sense.”