Billionaire Warren Buffett will pay $4.5bn (£2.3bn) for 60 per cent of Marmon, the industrial conglomerate controlled by the Pritzker family, underlining his desire to put his Berkshire Hathaway group’s $47bn plus cash pile to work.

The Christmas Day acquisition, one of the biggest by Mr Buffett, brings together one of the world’s most renowned investors with one of the US’s most famous and powerful business dynasties.