New Delhi: Indian-origin Canadian entrepreneur Prem Watsa decided to call it a day as chairman of the Fairfax India Holdings Corp effective July 1, 2024, paving the way for his son, Benjamin Watsa to step into his role, the group said in an official statement. Fairfax India Holdings is an investment company with a sizeable stake in Indian startups.
Watsa will continue to serve as a director on the company’s board. The company also named Gopalakrishnan Soundarajan as CEO of Fairfax India, replacing Chandran Ratnaswami, who will move on to the role of vice-chairman.
Who is Prem Watsa?
Popularly known as the ‘Canadian Warren Buffet’ the Indian-origin Canadian billionaire founded Fairfax Financial Holdings and currently serves as CEO of the company whose market cap stood at 35.897 billion Canadian dollars as of 8:35 pm IST, according market data. Fairfax Financial Holdings holds the controlling stake in Fairfax India. The latter company was founded with an eye on long-term investment in Indian businesses.
What is Prem Watsa’s net worth?
Prem Watsa’s net worth stood at $1.8 billion as of date, according to the Forbes real time billionaires index. He founded Fairfax Financial Holdings in Toronto, Canada in 1985. The Hyderabad-born billionaire is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario’s MBA programme who sustained himself initially by selling appliances from door to door. He went on to become an investment analyst and finally decided to strike out on his own in 1984.
Why is Prem Watsa called the Warren Buffet of Canada?
Prem Watsa grew his business by following the investment strategy of Warren Buffet, called ‘The Oracle of Omaha’. Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway owns a sizeable stake in a plethora of companies ranging from insurance to railways and food and Coca Cola. Fairfax Financial Holdings offers property and casualty insurance as well as reinsurance. The company also holds a sizeable stake in BlackBerry and GE.
Ranked 1,851 richest billionaire in the world, the 73-year-old Watsa is married and has 3 children. One of his sons, Benjamin, is set to take over from him as the chairman of Fairfax India Holdings. Benjamin is the founder and CEO of the investment company Marval Capital.
Prem Watsa the septuagenarian billionaire who is called the “Warren Buffet of Canada” for imitating his idol’s investment strategy, is the founder and CEO of Fairfax Financial Holdings, a Canadian insurance giant with a $36 billion market cap. Biz News Business News – Personal Finance News, Share Market News, BSE/NSE News, Stock Exchange News Today
