NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Warren Buffett denied interest in buying the Burger King fast food chain and said investment bankers likely started the speculation, according to a published report Wednesday.

The name of Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway, emerged as a potential bidder after a group led by Texas Pacific Partners pulled out of an agreement to buy the No. 2 burger chain for $2.26 billion from Diageo PLC.

The group backed away due to some weaker results from Burger King as it engages in a price war with No. 1 McDonald's and No. 3 Wendy's. The group then lowered its bid for Burger King to $1.6 billion and asked Diageo to keep a stake in the company, according to the Financial Times.

Buffett told the paper that he "never looked at Burger King. I've never seen any book on it or any figures," adding that it was "likely [that] investment bankers or somebody planted these stories in order to affect other bidders. People sometimes have a financial motive for bringing us into this."

A letter in a local newspaper from a fellow Omaha, Neb., resident asking Buffett not to purchase the chain prompted the denial from Berkshire's CEO.

"Buying a mammoth business whose incredibly high-calorie, horribly high-fat foods lead to obesity, diabetes and heart disease would be unconscionable for a man of your stature," Phil Sokolof wrote in the Omaha World Herald.

Buffett also told the Times, "I stop [at Burger King] occasionally for a hamburger and that's as close as I've gotten."