Prem Watsa

Prem Watsa
Born (1950-08-05) August 5, 1950
Hyderabad, India
Nationality Canadian[1]
Alma mater University of Western Ontario, IIT Madras
Occupation Businessman
Net worth US$1.1 billion (September 2016)[2]
Board member of Chairman of Fairfax Financial Holdings

Prem Watsa (born 1950) is a Canadian businessman who is the founder, chairman, and chief executive of Fairfax Financial Holdings, based in Toronto.[3][4][5][6] He has been called the "Canadian Warren Buffett."[7][8]

Early life and education

Watsa was born in Hyderabad, India. He attended Hyderabad Public School and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras[9][10] where he graduated with a degree in chemical engineering. Watsa later moved to London, Ontario and went to the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario where he earned an MBA. He is a distinguished alumnus of IIT Madras.[10]

Career

After graduating, Watsa worked for the insurance company Confederation Life. In 1984, he started an investment firm with his former boss Tony Hamblin called Hamblin Watsa Investment Counsel.[10] In 1985, Watsa took over Markel Financial and renamed it Fairfax Financial Holdings.[10] Watsa helped grow the company, where it reached annual revenues of $8 billion a year in 2012.[10] Despite his success, Watsa largely stayed out of the public eye.[10]

On January 22, 2012, it was reported he was to be appointed to the board of directors of Research In Motion (RIM) in the company's largest ever corporate shakeup. Watsa resigned in August 2013, but kept his investment in the company. On September 23, 2013, BlackBerry announced that it had signed a letter of intent to be acquired by Fairfax Financial Holdings in a $4.7 billion deal.[11]

Volunteering

He is a member of the Board of Trustees of The Hospital for Sick Children, a member of the Advisory Board for the Richard Ivey School of Business, a member of the Board of Directors of the Royal Ontario Museum Foundation and as well as Chairman of the Investment Committee of St. Paul’s Anglican Church.

In June 2009, he was appointed as the ninth chancellor of the University of Waterloo.[12]

He was named a Member of the Order of Canada in 2015.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "Prem Watsa".
  2. ↑ "#1741 V. Prem Watsa". Forbes. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  3. ↑ (BusinessWeek.com - Executive Profile - Prem Watsa/FFH) http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=1136292&symbol=FFH.TO "
  4. ↑ (Forbes.com - Executive Profile - Prem Watsa/FFH) http://www.forbes.com/finance/mktguideapps/personinfo/FromPersonIdPersonTearsheet.jhtml?passedPersonId=890456 "
  5. ↑ (Yahoo! Finance - Company Profile of Fairfax Financial) http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/56/56469.html "
  6. ↑ (Fool.com - 2007-12-05 - How to Dodge the Debt: BRK.A & FFH) http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2007/12/05/how-to-dodge-the-debt.aspx "
  7. ↑ reportonbusiness.com: Short shrift
  8. ↑ Feeley, Jef (22 April 2010). "Zenith National Investors Lose Bid to Halt Buyout". Bloomberg. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  9. ↑ (IIT Madras Citation)http://alumni.iitm.ac.in/citations-1999-distinguished-alumnus-awards-recipients/
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Castaldo, Joe (10 October 2013). "The man with nothing to lose". Canadian Business. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  11. ↑ "Indian Billionaire Prem Watsa buying Blackberry for $4.7 Billion". Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  12. ↑ (University of Waterloo - News Release - 2009-06-09) http://newsrelease.uwaterloo.ca/news.php?id=5081
  13. ↑ "Four Nova Scotians among Order of Canada honourees". The Chronicle-Herald, July 1, 2015.
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