Creditworthiness is like oxygen: you don’t notice it when it’s around.” Spoken more than a decade ago, Warren Buffett’s words sound eerily prescient at a time when a devastating liquidity squeeze is asphyxiating economies across the world and leaving the capital markets gasping for air.

Yet Mr Buffett, one of the world’s richest men and perhaps best-known investor, shows no signs of running out of breath. After years lamenting a lack of attractive targets, the 78-year-old American has been re-energised by a credit crunch and stock market disarray that have left him spoilt for choice on how to invest his $30bn-plus cash pile.