Xerxes

As someone who is into history, I really liked Prem comparing the opportunity in India to that of Singapore in the 50s and 60s. He was not saying that India will be like Singapore but rather that you could have bought (in Singapore case) the financials betting that it will be center of finance and trade in south east. He was giving the audience the opportunity to imagine what could the foundational bedrock industries that one can invest and hold in India. Much like how Michael Saylor likes to talk about owning the bedrock of the “digital Manhattan”, but just in the real world. Another big take away was for me was how big the privatization will be in India. I definitely like to increase my FIH exposure over time. Here is another example from our own Canadian business history. CN was a crown corporation that was privatize in the 90s and IPO at $3-4 a share. 3000% and some 25 years later it is close to $180. Having Hunter Harrison at later stage helped but the real bet was on the secular growth in trade in North America. If Harrison never existed it would have been another player.

On TRS, my simplistic take is that it was there to lever and extract juice the “transformational” step-change that he was betting on. Said differently I don’t think he would have put a TRS if it was only discount to BV that was too wide for his taste. Share repurchases takes care of that. I believe despite what he said share being still inexpensive, the TRS was really a bet on the step-change on the NAV rather discount to NAV. The fact that it was placed when it was at a discount it is just a bonus. And since that NAV will continue to grow to the tune of $125 per share per year, than the TRS will continue to stay on as NAV will continue to grow. Suffice to say $125 is the figure publicly stated, but the insiders know more than what we know. The only cost on the TRS is the fees to the Canadian banks. And some cash flow management if the stock dips.

Thanks Parsad for the flow of goodies. I ll just add that Prem emphasized a lot “transformational”, “operating businesses and less so trading”, “bigger size” etc that allows it to be less “wild” that was my takeaway

Watsco !!! lol

Prem rocks !

I ll add a comment on BIAL, both because it was (to my great pleasure) mentioned on the call by the CEO of the airport, and as well in previous non-Fairfax related links that I posted in the past on potential wide-body overcapacity glut in the future. India’ underinvestment in airport capacity in the 90s was a huge tailwind for the Gulf super-connectors (I.e Emirates, Qatar and the failing Etihad). It helped them grow. India can claw back that passenger-traffic that is rightly theirs and take share from other destinations. This would be zero sum game for the Emirates of the world. As over the next decades both Saudi Arabia and India take up the mantle and build super-connectors. And not to mention their domestic markets. A secondly effect of that would be a glut at global level for wide-bodies. But that is not our problem.

Eurobank and Fairfax India are already public. why create another holding company layer on top of each one ?

same here ? comeone @SharperDingaan more context pls on that last paragraph i got the “good luck to all” bit, but the paragraph just before lost me

I watched Dune 2 again. This time on IMAX. The theatre was packed. And i am sure they are mostly second or third viewings. speaking of which, this is funny.

He is throwing Mud few days before the AGM. Wondering if he will show up in person like a man. If he is right, or strongly believes that he is in the right, he ought to show up in person in his battle armour.

to be clear, I have more faith in a liar and a asshole like Dick Cheney, than I do of Putin.

Boris Johnson disagrees with you. Feb 2022 was a once in a life time opportunity to lay low a historical geopolitical foe. Safely from one’ ivory tower across the English Channel at that. Boris Johnson and the establishment bought the dip, during weeks that decades happened.

I couldn’t stop laughing. Watch this. https://youtu.be/tVsGUw9FWoc?feature=shared

I actually think them keeping almost all of their global investment concentrated in just two locations: India and Greece, is a sign of quality of investment managers. The bets ultimately maybe right or wrong, but one cannot say they didn’t do their homework.

What would that accomplish? Just because of some cheap Chinese technology stocks. A segment that is not even in his wheelhouse. Concentrating their geographical expertise is key. Only depth of knowledge (undistracted and compounded over decades) can allow them to go heavy in say India when and where it counts. Anything else is a distraction. Why even bother ? Greece was interesting. If there was no economic depression in Greece, they would have never bothered. Whereas India was a secular growth story.

Shetland Season 8 is outstanding, incredible police show. Not that previous seasons are any less outstanding. Amazing plots every season.

CME Group

Amazing !!!

see this podcast. the sheer size of this Emirati FDI in Egypt is staggering. Looks like one of the UAE SWF owns a piece of CIB as well.

any specific episode in that new series that you are recommending or general speaking

I was never able to watch Blade Runner completely. The Alien franchise has also interesting Director’ Cut and Extended Editions. I recall Alien3’ extended edition made the movie far more interesting.

The director cut is the way to watch Kingdom of Heavens. Not that the theatrical version was any less. Oliver Stone’ Director Cut of Alexandre is also interesting from a movie making point of view. Not a great movie. But it is interesting to contrast it with the theatrical.

Berkshire was not designed with an end goal in mind of what it ought to look like. It sort of happened over the decades, as different opportunities came and some were added. Mostly by being an opportunity at the right time. Markel in contrast was “architectured” with a clear goal of having a non-insurance business (Ventures) to grow in parallel. Copying Berkshire. Fairfax copied the float idea from Berkshire (easier said than done of course) but ultimately Fairfax was there first as an investor. The insurance outfit was added as a source of float to invest (what Ackman wishes to have). I don’t think there is any “architectural” copying from Berkshire except for the float. One could say Fairfax’ international profile is in deep contrast to Berkshire’ largely domestic business. That takes courage !!