Parsad

Very cool! I'm constantly surprised by mankind just keeps innovating. Cheers!

The Fairfax Financial 2013 AGM is set for Thursday April 11th at Roy Thomson Hall. Naturally, our Fairfax Financial Shareholder's Dinner will be held the night before. Cheers! http://www.fairfax.ca/news/events-and-webcasts/default.aspx

A bit late, but here are a few documents and links: http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/general-discussion/chanticleer-holdings/30/ http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/general-discussion/congratulations-to-chanticleer!/ http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/general-discussion/chanticleer-holdings-puts-hooters-deal-on-hold/ http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/general-discussion/chanticleer-holdings-947/10/ http://content.stockpr.com/chanticleerholdings/media/2d1acd72ac82097139bfde1c64a7b908.pdf http://ir.stockpr.com/chanticleerholdings/all-sec-filings/content/0001144204-12-029150/0001144204-12-029150.pdf http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1106838/000114420412035741/v316601_424b4.htm http://www.chanticleerinvestmentpartners.com/files/2012/02/1-Introduction.pdf http://www.scribd.com/doc/95454214/Chanticleer-Advisors-The-Case-for-Small-amp-Micro-Cap-Value-Investing-April-2012-Final http://www.chanticleeradvisors.com/files/107293/the%20manual%20of%20ideas%20-%20chanticleer%20interview.pdf http://www.valueinvestingworld.com/2012/06/chanticleer-holdings-inc.html http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/hooters-of-america-inc-history/ http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/print-edition/2012/07/06/chanticleer-offering-key-to-hooters.html From what I understand, HOTR/HOTRU/Chanticleer is a bet on the international expansion of Hooters. It's also a bet on the Chanticleer team. By the way, would someone smarter than me be so kind as to explain the difference between HOTRU and HOTR? I understand that one Chanticleer Holdings Unit (HOTRU) gives you one stock and one warrant. This doesn't sound too bad to me. You get the option of buying more of an illiquid stock. The price of HOTRU and HOTR is about the same, so you get the warrant for almost nothing. Maybe because Chanticleer wanted to make sure that the offering was successful, or am I missing something? Hi Hellsten, I think you have it right for the most part. As for HOTRU and HOTR, I don't think they wanted them to trade at par, but they expect the markets to arbitrage the difference. Unfortunately, to this point, the markets aren't giving any difference in value to HOTRU...nominal at best. Cheers!

lol, I didn't read the entire thread. No worries! Cheers!

Hi Mpauls, I said quotes, not whole letters. Hi Racemize, Maybe. Email or call them, and see what they say. Cheers!

No, Mohnish wouldn't mind at all. He's constantly telling people how he's a shameless clone of other's ideas. He's too humble to admit alot of his thoughts are fresh and new in many ways. But as I said, he won't mind quotes like that. I don't think he'd want an entire PDF or something, but a small quote wouldn't bother him at all. Cheers!

Hi Lance, a) Roy Thomson Hall was pretty full this year and I suspect it will be nearly the same again in 2013. They don't check for credentials or share ownership, but there is a registration where they will get your name, email, etc. b) The meeting starts about 9:30am and Prem runs through the whole corporate AGM stuff in about 5-10 minutes like Berkshire. He then introduces the executives, board of directors and does a presentation which usually lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to about 50 minutes. After that, there is a Q&A for about 1.5-2 hours. After the meeting, Prem and all of the executives and board are available for more meet/greet and Q&A in the reception/lobby area where they have a cocktail party...the whole thing ends around 1:30pm. Our dinner the night before is honestly fantastic! We have great attendees and great guests that Fairfax brings. I'm very proud of it, and very thankful for the support and the great fundraising we now do through it for the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of Canada in memory of Prem's assistant, JoAnn Butler. NormR's pre-dinner get together is also growing. I believe there were about 15-20 people at it this year, and Francis Chou, Andy Barnard and Sam Chan made a brief appearance. We'll try and get his pre-dinner a little closer to the Fairmont Royal York next year. Fairfax has numerous booths of investee companies or non-profits they support at their AGM now. This year they gave away $25 gift cards to Fairfax-owned restaurants and $50 gift cards to "The Sporting Life". Hopefully Prem acquires a few more non-insurance companies this year, and they give out more gift cards. We were all very happy to spend money at those stores! Cheers!

Article on Prem, RIM and today's conference call. Haven't been able to listen to it, as we are moving offices today. Probably listen to it tomorrow evening or Sunday. Cheers! http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-ideas/streetwise/on-rim-watsa-asks-for-a-little-perspective/article4444009/

Some interesting appointments. I hope Prem is around till he's well over 100, but Fairfax has some horses ready if the need ever arises. I think one thing Prem has done early, unlike Buffett or others, is a solid succession plan. Cheers! http://www.fairfax.ca/news/press-releases/press-release-details/2012/Executive-Announcements1130335/default.aspx

Yup, pretty much! ;D Cheers!

With such clear conviction, why in your opinion didn't WeB invest directly in the equity? does the preferred route not suggest it's not that clear to him? When Buffett invested the $5B, BAC was in a much more precarious position. Did he not recently say he wishes now that he had invested more? Buffett invests with Leucadia in things such as Berkadia, but he never invests directly in Leucadia...does that say something about how he feels about Leucadia equity, or is there just some things that Buffett chooses to invest in one way, and perhaps not another. Don't spend all your time wondering why Buffett did or not do something. Like everyone, including you or myself, there are things he will miss and many things he will get right. Investing is as much an art and based on your comfort level, as anything else...Buffett had much more comfort in preferreds rather than equity at the time. I would not be the slightest bit surprised if he buys equity at some point, and let's not forget we still don't know what Munger bought for DJCO...alot of people think it was BAC common...but would that matter?! Not one iota to me. Cheers! One can of course disregard buffet's doings, at his peril. However, his past preferreds investments were based, as you say on - not enough comfort. I do not understand banking well, too many moving parts to my taste, so I ask... why the discomfort? (and re LUK, yes, I think it says something about how he feels about Leucadia equity). I honestly think Buffett invested in the preferreds because it was a better deal than the equity. He gets 6% annually, while having the option to convert to shares at $7. Little risk on the downside and plenty of upside. I think if he didn't get the preferreds, he may have just bought equity...but the preferreds were a better deal. And I disagree about Leucadia. I suspect he didn't invest directly in Leucadia because of the fact there was no succession plan for a very long-time...Buffett had no interest in stepping in and running a company. What they do is very unique, and if they didn't already have the right person in place, he wasn't going to be able to try and find the right person if both Cummings and Steinberg dropped dead...whether he owned a minority share or majority share. In general, I think you could come with various questions about why Buffett didn't invest in one thing or another, and never actually know the real reason why he did or didn't. He's invested in White Mountains, but why has he never invested in Fairfax or Markel? You could presume a dozen scenarios on his motivation, and none of them may be right. Cheers!

With such clear conviction, why in your opinion didn't WeB invest directly in the equity? does the preferred route not suggest it's not that clear to him? When Buffett invested the $5B, BAC was in a much more precarious position. Did he not recently say he wishes now that he had invested more? Buffett invests with Leucadia in things such as Berkadia, but he never invests directly in Leucadia...does that say something about how he feels about Leucadia equity, or is there just some things that Buffett chooses to invest in one way, and perhaps not another. Don't spend all your time wondering why Buffett did or not do something. Like everyone, including you or myself, there are things he will miss and many things he will get right. Investing is as much an art and based on your comfort level, as anything else...Buffett had much more comfort in preferreds rather than equity at the time. I would not be the slightest bit surprised if he buys equity at some point, and let's not forget we still don't know what Munger bought for DJCO...alot of people think it was BAC common...but would that matter?! Not one iota to me. Cheers!

Interview of Meredith Whitney on CNBC. Cheers! http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000105384&play=1

Yup! They are further along than I expected at this point after reading the 2nd Q report. But the stock is doing laps like it's still going to go under, and the market perceives it as the worst capitalized out of all major and regional banks. If Bank of America goes down from some cataclysmic event in the world, then Wells Fargo & JP Morgan won't be far behind...probably days at best...and I doubt if Citigroup would last as long as BAC. The markets are counting the broken branches on the tree, but not examining exactly how strong the trunk is and all of the other branches where leaves will still sprout. Cheers! Except, that as I started to put money into BofA, I thought it would be the only circle of my competence currently under financials. But my knowlege of the AIG situation also grew over the last months and made me very comfortable to put the same amount into AIG,... so currently I have for every $1 of BAC, also about $1 of AIG. Somehow Buffett's IBM share repurchase thesis gave me my "eureka effect" about AIG. The AIG position is mostly in common stock and a few warrants. Sanjeev, how do you think BAC stacks up against AIG? Anyone else cares to comment? I like AIG, but I think it's a bigger black box with more tentacles than BAC. If I had to choose one, then it would be BAC. I understand the banking business, especially a shrinking one, better than I'll ever understand some of the more complex and esoteric products at AIG. Cheers!

Why 3-5 years if you expect it to hit book value by the end of the year? Never said book by year-end. Said tangible book by year-end. Cheers!

Guess who were the lowest: BAC was lowest, then Citi and finally US Bank. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-24/wells-fargo-ranks-no-1-in-hard-to-value-assets-s-p-says.html?cmpid=yhoo

See's Candies created the world's largest lollipop. Cheers! http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/see-candies-creates-7-000-pound-lollypop-world-210921788.html

Yup! They are further along than I expected at this point after reading the 2nd Q report. But the stock is doing laps like it's still going to go under, and the market perceives it as the worst capitalized out of all major and regional banks. If Bank of America goes down from some cataclysmic event in the world, then Wells Fargo & JP Morgan won't be far behind...probably days at best...and I doubt if Citigroup would last as long as BAC. The markets are counting the broken branches on the tree, but not examining exactly how strong the trunk is and all of the other branches where leaves will still sprout. Cheers!

We've bet a good chunk of the farm on BAC now. I think it's one of the cheapest companies I've seen since I bought Steak'n Shake at $3.50, and that company was in rough shape at the time. The last time I saw something this good, this cheap, was Fairfax at $80...and even that was in rough shape! I think our partners will be very happy 3-5 years from now! Cheers!

Fairfax averages in and out of positions. They probably doubled down to bring their cost down, while Prem works with the board and management to try and right the ship. I don't think it means anything one way or the other...just that he has a very significant vested interest in RIMM's future and they've reduced their average cost. Cheers!

DCG, you know as well as anyone that measuring over the short-term means virtually nothing. Fairfax's shareholder equity in 1999 was $155...at the end of 2011 it was $364...or about 8.2% annualized compared to the S&P500, which was down about -1.3% annualized, but with dividends broke about even. During that time, Fairfax also paid dividends in half of those years, so their return is closer to 9.5%. So, let's not focus on the short-term, and worry only if Prem and Fairfax can stay ahead of the indices over the long-term. Cheers! Understood, and I haven't sold a single share of Fairfax, but large investments in companies like RIMM are a cause of the stock sliding (or not moving). I agree. I think it's mainly a lack of catalysts...holding pattern on investments with the hedges...and investments in things that would be counterintuitive...RIMM, Resolute, private companies, etc. Spain is getting incredibly close to a full-scale bailout...Greece is essentially in a Depression. Much of what Fairfax is concerned about is slowly coming to fruition, and it is likely some of their longer terms hedges will pay some dividends over the next couple of years. Cheers!

DCG, you know as well as anyone that measuring over the short-term means virtually nothing. Fairfax's shareholder equity in 1999 was $155...at the end of 2011 it was $364...or about 8.2% annualized compared to the S&P500, which was down about -1.3% annualized, but with dividends broke about even. During that time, Fairfax also paid dividends in half of those years, so their return is closer to 9.5%. So, let's not focus on the short-term, and worry only if Prem and Fairfax can stay ahead of the indices over the long-term. Cheers!

Goes on to say Tilson will keep a lower public profile. Yeah, we'll see about that. Not sure what the heck is going on then at T2 according to their letter: http://www.businessinsider.com/whitney-tilson-and-glenn-tongue-part-ways-at-t2-partners-2012-7 Tilson is going back to focusing on investment management instead of his other activities, and Glenn is managing their SPAC vehicle. The general long-short component isn't really different on either side and they will be relatively focused, with Glenn targeting frauds, failed business models, etc. Beats the hell out of me! Cheers!

Great introduction, you could be a salesman for a FOF; lol. Geez, could you lump me in with anything lower? ;D Cheers! Whitney Tilson? Ppphhhttt! I just spat out my coffee. LOL! That was funny. Cheers!

Great introduction, you could be a salesman for a FOF; lol. Geez, could you lump me in with anything lower? ;D Cheers!