Warren Buffett is being priced out of acquisitions. Except for Pilot, which he's taking over for around $11 billion in 2023.

• Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has struggled to find attractively priced businesses to buy.
• The investor's company is set to take control of Pilot, a truck-stop operator, early next year.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has acquired dozens of businesses in past decades, including Geico, Dairy Queen, NetJets, Duracell, and Fruit of the Loom. The famed investor's company has struggled to expand its collection due to high prices and fierce competition, but at least it has a sizeable takeover slated for next year.

Berkshire purchased 38.6% of Pilot, the nation's biggest operator of truck stops and travel centers, in 2017. Buffett's company is set to acquire another 41.4% of the business in early 2023, boosting its stake to 80%. The transaction will make Pilot a consolidated subsidiary, meaning its earnings, assets, and liabilities will be included in Berkshire's financial statements.

In its latest annual report, Berkshire estimated that if it had purchased the additional 41.4% stake last year, plus all of Pilot's non-controlling interests in partly owned subsidiaries (some of which Berkshire may be obligated to buy later), it would have spent about $11 billion in total.

That isn't a huge sum for a company looking to deploy about $80 billion. Berkshire has spent far more in the past: It paid $37 billion including debt to acquire Precision Castparts in 2015, plowed $36 billion into Apple stock between 2016 and 2018, and splurged $27 billion on stock buybacks in 2021. Still, Pilot is likely to rank among Berkshire's largest deals over the past five years.

Pilot was founded by "Big Jim" Haslam as a single gas station in 1958, and it now operates around 800 locations and employs 28,000 people. The company's revenue surged from about $20 billion in 2017 to $45 billion last year, and it generates more than $1 billion in annual pre-tax earnings.

The truck-stop group operates under the Pilot Flying J, Pilot Travel Centers, and Mr. Fuel brands. It caters to truck drivers and other motorists by offering gas, restrooms, parking, amenities such as laundry and showers, and fast-food restaurants including Subway and Denny's.

It's easy to see why Pilot appeals to Buffett. The billionaire investor favors market leaders with strong brands, and he loves McDonald's and Dairy Queen, two of Pilot's franchisers. Berkshire also owns McLane, a wholesale supplier of groceries and non-food items to convenience stores and restaurants.