The story
Markel Financial
Fairfax was incorporated as Markel Service of Canada on March 13, 1951, and continued under the Canada Business Corporations Act in 1976. The name was subsequently changed to Markel Financial Holdings Ltd.
In 1984, Prem Watsa left GW Asset Management to found his own asset management firm, Hamblin Watsa Investment Counsel Ltd. together with his former boss from Confed, Tony Hamblin. Tony was the Chief Investment Officer at Confed. The five founding partners were: Tony Hamblin, Prem Watsa, Roger Lace, Brian Bradstreet and Frances Burke.
In 1985, Watsa took control of Markel Financial, a Canadian-based specialist in trucking insurance. The company was controlled by the Virginia-based Markel family.
Fairfax Financial
In May 1987, Watsa re-organized Markel Financial Holdings Limited and renamed it Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited (FAIRFAX: short for "fair, friendly acquisitions").
Prem Watsa has served as chairman and chief executive officer of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited since 1985 and as vice president of Hamblin Watsa Investment Counsel since 1985. Watsa, directly, and indirectly through 1109519 Ontario Limited, The Sixty Two Investment Company Limited and 810679 Ontario Ltd., owns the controlling equity voting interest of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited ("Fairfax").
As Japan's equity market surged through 1988, Watsa was publicly skeptical. In the FY1988 Letter to Shareholders he wrote that Fairfax had predicted "a collapse in the highly speculative Japanese stock market," and concluded: "If this continues, Japan will be the only equity market of consequence. Count me among the skeptics." Fairfax backed the view by purchasing Nikkei put options. The Nikkei 225 peaked at 38,915 on December 29, 1989 and fell to 23,848 by year-end 1990 — a decline of roughly 39%. The FY1990 annual report disclosed realized gains from those puts, with book value reaching $17.29 per share by December 1990.
1990s
On August 13, 1998, Fairfax Financial Holdings completed the acquisition of Crum & Forster for approximately US$565 million in cash. The acquisition significantly expanded Fairfax’s U.S. commercial insurance operations and added specialty underwriting capabilities.
By the late 1990s Watsa was alarmed by what he described in the FY1999 Letter as "unbelievable speculation" in U.S. equities, citing extreme internet-stock valuations and unusually rapid share turnover. His summary was blunt: "We do not believe in 'New Eras'." Fairfax entered the period holding US$700 million notional of S&P 500 Index puts and US$162 million notional of contracts on a basket of technology stocks, maintaining roughly US$600 million in notional exposure. The Nasdaq Composite fell approximately 78% from its March 2000 peak to its October 2002 trough. The FY2001 letter reported $75.1 million in realized gains from the technology-basket puts and $11.4 million from S&P 500 Index puts. Watsa acknowledged that the position had been painful while the S&P 500 rose — a reminder that being right on the thesis and being right on the timing are different things.
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2000s
As early as the 2003, in an annual report issued by the company, chief executive Prem Watsa raised concerns about securitized products and talks about the subprime mortgage crisis and the United States housing bubble.
In an interview in The Globe and Mail in 2007, Watsa said believed that the global credit squeeze is in its "early days", and indicated he believed there may be similarities to the Japanese asset price bubble.
The investment team of HWIC benefited from the subprime fallout, like John Paulson's New York-based Paulson & Co., Kyle Bass' Hayman Capital, Andrew Lahde's California-based Lahde Capital, Julian Robertson's "Tiger Cubs" (formerly known as "Tiger Management Corp."), and Michael Burry's Scion Capital (White Mountains Insurance Group is a minority investor in Scion Capital LLC), they have used derivatives to bet on the housing bubble. As of September 30, 2007, Fairfax and its subsidiaries owned an enormous credit default swap (CDS) book with a $18.5 billion notional amount and an average term to expiry of 4.2 years, on about 25 to 30 companies, the majority of which were bond insurers and mortgage lenders. The CDS book had a cost of $344 million, and a market value of $546 million. The market value of these swaps had fluctuated significantly in the 3rd quarter of 2007 from less than $200 million at the end of June, to $537 million at the end of July to almost $1 billion (twice that value) in August to $544 million at the end of September.
2010s
As of December 31, 2010, Fairfax had total assets of approximately $31.7 billion, and its revenue for the prior twelve months was approximately $6.2 billion.
On September 23, 2013, Fairfax made an offer to purchase cell phone maker BlackBerry for $4.7 billion or $9.00 a share. BlackBerry announced it had signed a letter of intent but would be open to other offers until November 4, 2013. Fairfax already held 10% of BlackBerry. The deal was later scrapped in favor of a US$1 billion cash injection which, according to one analyst, represented the level of confidence BlackBerry's largest shareholder had in the company.
On January 30, 2015, Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited launched Fairfax India Holdings Corporation, following the election of Narendra Modi, raising approximately US$1 billion to make long-term investments in India.
In 2016, Fairfax offered seed funding to Kitchener startup, DOZR Inc. through their investment and innovation unit, Fair Ventures. Fair Ventures and Fairfax went on to support DOZR through multiple funding pitches, including the Colorado-based BaseCamp Equity Partners pitch in 2019. This pitch landed DOZR with $14 million CAD.
In July 2017, Fairfax Financial completed its acquisition of Allied World Assurance Company Holdings, AG for approximately US$4.9 billion in cash. Allied World continues to operate under its existing brand as a global specialty insurer within the Fairfax group.
In 2017, Fairfax Financial Holdings increased its ownership of Torstar's non-voting shares from 20% to 40%. In late May 2020, Torstar accepted an offer of a sale of the company to NordStar Capital. The $52 million deal, supported by Fairfax, was expected to close by year end.
On April 24, 2018, it was announced that Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. would acquire the Canadian division of Toys "R" Us for approximately $234 million with the intention to keep the 82 remaining stores in Canada open under the Toys "R" Us brand even after the chain's liquidation in the United States. The deal was completed on June 1, 2018. Fairfax sold Toys R Us Canada to businessman Doug Putman in 2021.
2020s
On August 9, 2022, Fairfax Financial proposed a $954 million takeover bid for the Canadian restaurant operator Recipe Unlimited Corp.
On December 26, 2023, Fairfax Financial completed the acquisition of an additional 46.32% equity interest in Gulf Insurance Group from Kuwait Projects Company (Holding) K.S.C.P., increasing its ownership from 43.69% to 90.01% and obtaining control of the company, with a mandatory tender offer to remaining shareholders announced for the first quarter of 2024.
On July 22, 2024, Fairfax Financial agreed to acquire Sleep Country Canada Holdings Inc. for approximately C$1.7 billion, through an all-cash offer. The sale received final court approval from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in late September 2024. Sleep Country continues to operate as a separate entity under the Fairfax umbrella.
On December 20, 2024, Fairfax Financial increased its ownership of Peak Achievement Athletics Inc. to 100% by acquiring the remaining equity interests from Sagard Holdings Inc. and other minority shareholders for total consideration of $765 million, resulting in the company’s full consolidation.
In the fourth quarter of 2024, Fairfax Financial received an approximately $100 million dividend from Digit Insurance, which management stated was a one-time distribution related to Digit’s initial public offering in May 2024, in which the company was valued at approximately US$3 billion.
On December 5, 2025, Fairfax Financial realized proceeds of approximately $316 million from the partial disposition of its investment in Orla Mining, generating an estimated gain of about $177 million on an equity position accumulated largely between 2022 and 2024, while retaining a remaining stake valued at approximately $1.0 billion at year-end.
On 14 October 2026, the Government of India's Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the sale of a combined 60.72% stake in IDBI Bank to Fairfax Financial for ₹52,878 crore, with the Government of India and the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) divesting 30.48% and 30.24% respectively at ₹81 per share. The Government of India and LIC, which together held roughly 95% of IDBI Bank before the sale, are to retain a combined residual stake of about 15% for later disposal, with the remainder held by public shareholders. The transfer to Fairfax is still subject to final regulatory clearance from the Reserve Bank of India.
From Wikipedia’s article on Fairfax Financial, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5