From an interesting article in The Globe and Mail: "Fairfax sent a team to Dublin about two weeks ago to comb through the bank’s loan books and question its credit people. Mr. Watsa met with the bank’s management, and came away believing that, with a recapitalization, Bank of Ireland chief executive officer Richie Boucher would … Continue reading Nugget: Fairfax aquires 35% of Bank of Ireland
Tag: fairfax
Fairfax Financial Holdings
Investment Competence How would you describe the investment style of Hamblin Watsa? Our investment philosophy at Hamblin Watsa rests on the principles of value investing championed by Ben Graham and practiced by Warren Buffett and John Templeton. We have a long term value oriented approach to managing money, which results in our viewing the risk of capital … Continue reading Fairfax Financial Holdings
Profile: Henry Singleton
"By the way, you may not know, but the Michael Jordan of stock buybacks was Henry Singleton at Teledyne. Henry began Teledyne in 1961 with approximately seven million shares outstanding and grew the company through acquisitions while shares outstanding peaked in 1972 at 88 million. From 1972 to 1987, long before stock buybacks became popular, … Continue reading Profile: Henry Singleton
Fairfax exposure to Japan
This is an excerpt from the 2010 Annual Report of Odissey Re: We wrote $539 million of gross premiums in EuroAsia in 2010, a decrease of 3.7% from the previous year. [...] Meanwhile, premiums written from Singapore grew 24%, mainly due to expanded property writings in Japan and China. [...] The business mix of our … Continue reading Fairfax exposure to Japan
Prem Watsa on insurance industry outlook in 2010 annual letter
Our businesses in Canada and the United States continue to be challenged by highly competitive market conditions. Excess capacityhas led to downward pressure on rates. Another year of benign catastrophe experience inNorthAmerica has encouraged aggressive pricing. While the industry’s accident year combined ratio is running at 100% or more, reserve releases from prior years have … Continue reading Prem Watsa on insurance industry outlook in 2010 annual letter
A glance at the insurance industry
The insurance industry is a fascinating business as is its function is basically to absorb risk. The apealing aspect of insurance companies to investors are their ability to generate cash. In the words of Warren Buffet: The fountain of funds we enjoy in our insurance operations comes from “float,” which is money that doesn’t belong … Continue reading A glance at the insurance industry