Buyout firms crave Buffett-like long game that remains elusive

New York

A FEW years ago, private equity managers were growing tired of sitting on the sidelines, watching Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway make landmark investments in Kraft Heinz and BNSF Railway. They wanted to get into the game.

To play, they would need to give themselves lots of time - decades, in fact - and as near-to-permanent capital as they could muster. Ambitious buyout firms bet that by raising long-duration funds, they would finally have the patient capital to do those eye-watering megadeals they'd been coveting.