CanWest seeks financial saviour amid credit crisis

[Hoodlum]

Fairfax owns about 22M shares (22% of outstanding shares).  I suspect their average cost to be about $120M+ since most of their shares were purchased in 2007 and early 2008.

 

http://business.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090219.wrcanwest20/BNStory/Business/home

 

"Leonard Asper is scrambling to secure a financial lifeline for CanWest Global Communications Corp. [CGS-T] before the end of the month to prevent his family-run media empire from sliding into bankruptcy protection...

 

CanWest's largest non-family shareholder, Fairfax Financial, is among investors that have expressed interest in a new capital injection to forestall bankruptcy protection. Bankers close to the company suggest Fairfax or other investors would have to inject about $300-million to be effective. A condition of such an investment by Fairfax would be a change in control at CanWest, according to sources.

 

Some other funds, including the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, have been approached by CanWest officials, but said they were not interested in investing in the media company, sources say.

 

Sources familiar with the matter said Fairfax is holding off on a proposal until it gets more information on the state of CanWest's financial health — something it has been unable to obtain thus far. Any proposal would require an investor to hammer out a separate agreement with Goldman Sachs [GS-N], which is a partner in CanWest's specialty channels, a stable of assets that rank among the company's most prized properties."