ourkid8

All CSX shareholders should be crying today...

A legend and arguably one of the greatest CEO / turnaround specialist passed away. RIP HH, you will be missed... https://www.thestar.com/business/2017/12/16/railway-executive-hunter-harrison-dies-at-73.html

I am actually rather concerned by this statetment. The CEO does not not feel PDH's returns will not outperform in the next decade. Did I misread that?

It's great to see their investments starting to fire on all cylinders, eventhough this is a rounding error but it all adds up.

Richmond Hill, Ontario (North of Toronto)

Class I Rails, they are all able to raise prices above inflation along with passing fuel surcharge costs back to the consumer. My fav is CN Rail ...

Please see the attached press release. SNL__Workers%27_comp_insurer_Stonetrust_to_be_acquired_by_Canada-based_Win....pdf

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/intention-normal-course-issuer-bid-210200367.html Under its existing normal course issuer bid, Fairfax has purchased 335,112 of its Subordinate Voting Shares, which included Subordinate Voting Shares reserved for share-based payment awards, through open market purchases on the TSX during the last twelve months at a weighted average price per share of Cdn.$621.65. Fairfax has not purchased any Preferred Shares under its existing normal course issuer bid. Fairfax has repurchased $208M in stock so far, let the good times roll....

No, not over here.

I am a unit holder in his fund and it has been a terrible investment. At least Francis acknowledges his mistakes in stock selections. In conclusion, we do not believe that we have entered a new paradigm; there is definite room for improvement in stock selections but the principle of value investing is sound and, in time the logic will prevail in the end.

What does this have to do with Fairfax?

Let me correct you as it gets even better, Fairfax is retaining 25% of current and future business! That was my take too. It seems like it was too good a deal to pass on and at 3.3xbook and 25% of future business they grudgingly accepted. Prem was adamant that proceeds from the sale of First Capital and ICICI Lombard would be used to repurchase shares. Prem indicated that they can only pay out OMERS et al after 3 years or so and that the short term priority was buy backs. Details of the Mitsui "partnership" are to be fleshed out over the next few weeks but he sounded excited about it

Couldn't agree more!!! We are able to unlock US$900 million (us$33/share) in after tax gains to repurchase our stock while at the same time retaining a 25% quota share in the business. Fairfax seems to have taken advantage of our MSI friends...

Did Fairfax acquire first capital for C$49 million? If so, that was a serious home run!!!! http://www.asiapacific.ca/news/fairfax-financial-holdings-buys-singapores-first-capital-ins

Sanjeev, what is the growth rate we are witnessing with goevisit.com? Do you have stats over the last 3 years? Some companies do that already...license the software, etc. There is some competition in North America and in Canada in terms of telemedicine...including some fairly significant acquisitions. No one in Canada is offering 24/7 access across all provinces and territories, or remote access as snowbirds, travellers other than goevisit.com. The number of telemedicine visits is probably in the tens of thousands in Canada on an annual basis now. That number seems to be growing around 90-110% annually depending on data sources. No one in Canada is attempting to scale like goevisit.com on a national level. Cheers!

Fair point however those companies never adapted to changing environments e.g. BBM chose to remain on a shrinking ecosystem which was their downfall. Look at Facebook, they integrated Snapchat's story function across instagram/WhatsApp etc to ensure they stay ahead/with the curve. That's true, but MySpace had a large user base too. Plus, WhatsApp and Instagram were bought not built. It's feasible someone comes up with the next big thing.. I think Apple's ecosystem (esp on the consumer side) is stickier than what most people believe because everything is integrated. Remember when everyone was on BBM? MSN Messenger? ICQ? Social networks can go down very quickly when something new/better comes along.

You guys do understand what FB owns? -Whatsapp, messenger, Instagram and Facebook. These 4 platforms each have almost a billion monthly active users besides Instagram but it's not far behind. I do not know about you guys but each of these apps are very sticky.

Dexter Shoe This is largely true with his public equity investments. But I excluded him because he has had blow-ups in private investments and bonds. Specifically, Energy Future Holdings. Still, on a portfolio basis, his batting average is very high. Yes but weren't the blowups relatively small? None of the big bets blew up. I'd say that the biggest screw-up at BRK was the Gen RE purchase and even that one kinda sorta turned ok in the end.

why don't you email his office? (admin@choufunds.com, fchou@choufunds.com) I have emailed him in the past and he has called me back to discuss.

Does anyone know the break fee Fairfax has in place?

Your looking at it wrong. Off the top of my head I believe Fairfax invested over $300M of the $1B in the fund and I believe their $10-20m management fee is paid in additional units of the fund itself. Yes it is small right now in the whole scheme of things however if their investments do well, fairfax shareholders will also do well over the long term. (I am on vacation and not infront of the computer to pull the exact numbers) When they launched Fairfax India, my observation was that the only real advantage for FFH is the opportunity to earn some management fees. So, like Fairfax India, this fund will be $1B, meaning that the investment fees would probably range from $10-20m per year (ie, a fee of 100-200 bps). It's a nice little addition, but I can't see it really moving the needle. SJ What difference do the boots on the ground make? The expected revenue stream for FFH from managing $1B of other people's money can only be about $10-20m per year. Boots on the ground might mean that they'll do a better job of investing, but it doesn't change the revenue stream.

This is a very sacred holiday and traditions are important!!! Please read up on the rules prior to airing our grievances! http://festivusweb.com/festivus-rules.htm

Have you forgotten boots on the ground? With fairfax India fund, they have ICICI lombart and Thomas Cook management team to leverage. Now in regards to africa, the management team feels they have sufficient boots on the ground from their 100% owned S. African zurich insurance business to leverage. (I was born in east africa and fully understand you need to be there to understand the business climate.). On the positive, it's another source of revenue that will come in so a win/win for fairfax shareholders. When they launched Fairfax India, my observation was that the only real advantage for FFH is the opportunity to earn some management fees. So, like Fairfax India, this fund will be $1B, meaning that the investment fees would probably range from $10-20m per year (ie, a fee of 100-200 bps). It's a nice little addition, but I can't see it really moving the needle. SJ

Which liberal party is center-right? At the federal and provincial level they are all center-left. I would say the conservative are center-right.

http://www.fairfax.ca/news/press-releases/press-release-details/2016/Fairfax-Launches-C450-Million-Senior-Notes-Offering/default.aspx Preparing for an acquisition? Hmmm...