Buffett's Actual Acquisition Criteria ($STP)

Hilarious to compare these with the situation at Suntech:

• Large purchases (at least $50 million of before-tax earnings), 
• Demonstrated consistent earning power (future projections are of no interest to us, nor are "turnaround" situations), 
• Businesses earning good returns on equity while employing little or no debt, 
• Management in place (we can't supply it), 
• Simple businesses (if there's lots of technology, we won't understand it), 
• An offering price (we don't want to waste our time or that of the seller by talking, even preliminarily, about a transaction when price is unknown).

Charlie and I frequently get approached about acquisitions that don't come close to meeting our tests: We've found that if you advertise an interest in buying collies, a lot of people will call hoping to sell you their cocker spaniels. A line from a country song expresses our feeling about new ventures, turnarounds, or auction-like sales: "When the phone don't ring, you'll know it's me."

I'm guessing the phone don't ring at Suntech.