Warren Buffett has moved into the alcohol business with the acquisition of the wholesale distributor Empire Distributors.

Mr Buffett bought Kahn Ventures, the Atlanta-based parent of Empire through McLane, a subsidiary of his holding company Berkshire Hathaway. The purchase price was not disclosed.

“We expect that the Empire acquisition will provide us with a solid platform for potentially acquiring other similar high-quality distributors,” Mr Buffett said.

Management and staff will remain in place at Empire’s eight facilities. McLane, a food distributor that Mr Buffett bought from Wal-Mart in 2003, has 38 distribution centres.