accutronman

Haven't seen mention of this in the forum: http://www.livemint.com/Home-Page/mbAkpD8Neg96VIzEwKRRnM/GMR-in-talks-to-sell-30-in-airports-arm.html Another good India investment for Fairfax if it goes thru.

Got back in today after having liquidated position months ago. The decline in p/b makes the stock too attractive to pass up.

Good article on Prem: http://www.canadianbusiness.com/companies-and-industries/the-man-with-nothing-to-lose/

Don't fret. We're down almost 15 today

From today's Financial Times Oracle of Ontario v Sage of Omaha By Lina Saigol Prem Watsa, the Indian-born billionaire who is leading a $4.7bn bid to buy BlackBerry, is sometimes compared to Warren Buffett, the legendary investor and one of the world’s richest men. Here’s a look at how the two match up. PREM WATSA (aka the “Oracle of Ontario”) Classic quote: “Trees don’t grow to the sky and markets don’t fall to the floor.” First job: Left India for Canada with $8 in his pocket and found a job selling air conditioners and furnaces door-to-door. This funded his MBA at the University of Western Ontario business school. Investment strategy: A value investor and a disciple of Ben Graham, Mr Watsa invests via his insurance company Fairfax Financial Holdings. Top shareholdings: Resolute Forest Products; Dex Media; Cooper Tire & Rubber Company; IBM; Merck & Co; New York Times. Portfolio Value: $2.5bn. Fairfax’s compound annual growth in book value per share has been 23 per cent since 1985, while the common stock price has risen at a compound rate at 19 per cent annually. Biggest Deal: The proposed $4.7bn acquisition of smartphone maker BlackBerry. Shrewd moment: Cemented his reputation for turning disaster into profit when he made $1.15bn betting against US real estate. Worst moment: Buying shares in BlackBerry at an average cost of $50 in 2010. The shares closed on Monday at $8.82. Personal Net Worth: Estimated at about $2bn. He earned $622,000 in 2012. WARREN BUFFETT (aka the “Sage of Omaha”) Classic Quote: “Rule No. 1: never lose money. Rule No. 2: don’t forget rule No. 1.” First job: Running businesses as a paper boy and selling his own horseracing tip sheet, aged 13. That same year, he filed his first tax return, claiming his bicycle as a $35 tax deduction. Investment strategy: Like Mr Watsa, a value investor and Graham disciple. Mr Buffett invests via his ownership of insurance company Berkshire Hathaway. Top shareholdings: Coca-Cola; ConocoPhillips; DirecTV; GlaxoSmithKline; General Electric; IBM. Portfolio Value: Berkshire’s equity portfolio was valued at $103.3bn at the end of June. Over the past 48 years, Berkshire’s book value has grown from $19 to $114,214, a rate of 19.7 per cent compounded annually. Biggest Deal: The $26.6bn acquisition of US railway Burlington Northern Santa Fe in 2009. Shrewd moment: Berkshire received a 10 per cent coupon and five-year warrants giving it the right to buy Goldman Sachs stock at a distress-sale price, in return for investing in the bank in September 2008. Worst moment: Berkshire’s 1998 acquisition of reinsurance company General Re was marred by a portfolio of complex derivative securities and state and federal investigations.

Forget emerging markets, best return is in frontier markets. Take a look at WAFMX mutual fund. Also invested in Africa. Take a look at Bollore (BOL:FR).

FRFHF

In for 100 at $347. Early Black Friday special.

Insights?

I see we have a ticker symbol for the Equity Opportunity fund: CHOEX. Now if the performance of the fund would only take off.

If, however, you want to make money in the here and now go with Meryl Widmer's picks.

Fortress Paper

From the recent article on Chad. Based upon his successes over the years, I wouldn't put it past him. I continue to buy shares. "And a press interview is something Wasilenkoff conducts at his West Vancouver pile over a couple of beers. He’s convinced the deals he has on the go could make Fortress a $300 stock and a $4-billion company—from an $8-million company in 2006. His outlook is wildly bullish but aired without the promotional fervour of Vancouver’s Howe Street. “It won’t be this year, but by the end of next year. It’s a very clear runway.” "

Totally agree on Chad. Fortress has been a substantial portion of my portfolio for awhile. I also recommend Michael Smith at Terra Nova (TTT).

Mr. Rosenwald is a recognized authority in Pacific Rim investing with more than twenty years of investment experience. He formerly co-managed and founded Rosenwald, Roditi & Company, Ltd., now known as Rovida Asset Management, Ltd., which he established in 1992 with Nicholas Roditi. Mr. Rosenwald advised numerous Soros Group funds between 1992 and 1998. He commenced his investment career with the Grace Family at their securities firm, Sterling Grace & Co. Mr. Rosenwald holds a Masters of Business Administration from New York University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Vassar College. He is a CFA Charterholder and a director of numerous investment funds. He is a member of the Los Angeles Society of Financial Analysts and the Association for Investment Management and Research. Business partners get together for diverse reasons. In the case of Dalton Investments LLC, the three founding partners had in common investment business experience in Asia and a belief that the timing was right to concentrate on the region. At the time the firm was established in 1999 Steve Persky, James Rosenwald and Gifford Combs each believed that post-crisis turmoil in Asia gave their investment strategies favourable medium-term opportunities. However, they might never have teamed up without the intervention of one Jamie Rosenwald, who was managing a Japanese long-only portfolio for a US pension account in October 1998. He seeded Gifford Combs to manage the Pacific and General Investments fund, which at that time was almost all in Asian equities. In November 1998 Rosenwald was approached by a listed NYSE corporation to manage an Asian distressed debt portfolio, and he recruited Steve Persky who had significant experience in Asia and in distressed investing to manage the account. These recruitment acts were not random – indeed, quite the opposite. The three partners had informally worked and invested together from 1981 through 1998 and had known each other on a personal level for many years. Gifford Combs and Steve Persky were classmates at Harvard College, and Steve Persky and Jamie Rosenwald met in 1970, classmates at the Dalton School from which the firm derives its name. Creating Dalton Investments was a natural evolution of their shared experiences and aspirations. Dalton Investment’s investment activities are in three categories: distressed debt (under Steve Persky), Asian equities run by Jamie Rosenwald, and Gifford Comb’s global hedged equities. Steve Persky managed a low volatility distressed credit strategy for the first seven years of the firm.

Great article on Fortress Paper and Chad Wasilenkoff. As a long-time investor in Fortress, I'm glad to see Chad get the recognition he deserves. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-magazine/how-fortress-paper-became-a-tsx-star/article1955495/singlepage/#articlecontent

Loaded up on Kajima today. Infrastructure, especially construction, will be the money play

Sign me up! Maybe if the lawsuits start flying the directors will wake up to their fiduciary duties.

For those of you planning on doing a purchase through Scottrade, be aware that there is presently a problem with their website. If you click on "Trade" once you've located the fund under "Funds Trading Without a Symbol" nothing happens: a trade window does not open. I've reported the problem to my branch to have the web site fixed, however, in the interim you'll have to do the trade through your local branch. Make sure they charge you the internet rate for the trade.

Chou America funds also available for purchase at Scottrade under "funds trading without a symbol." Also, transaction fee is cheaper at Scottrade than Schwab at $17 a trade.

Your math is incorrect. There were 937,343 For, 199,493 Against, and 3,295 Abstentions for a total of 1,140,131. Taking out Biglari controlled shares makes the percentage 64% in support.

I took a position awhile back in LyondellBasell (LALLF) not only for the eventual move upward based upon bankruptcy emergence as well as use of natural gas as feedstock but also for the pop when it got listed on the NYSE. Looks like it's happening: NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- LyondellBasell Industries said Friday it expects its common stock to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 14 under the symbols LYB and LYB.B. LyondellBasell currently has 566 million ordinary shares outstanding.

Ignoring any differences between Series A and F, is it possible for an U.S. investor to purchase units in any of the Chou funds? If so, how is this accomplished?

Great article on Fairfax in tomorrow's WSJ and how Prem is wagering $200M on a decline in CPI. The guy is a genius and I'm willing to bet the stock price will continue to rise.

Have put money into the following: VRX, PWER, AKRX, PTV, LFL, and BCH