Canadian Warren Buffet Buying Fairfax Financial, run by a canny investor named Prem Watsa who has been called the Warren Buffett of Canada, recently spent C$11.8 million to increase its holding of Torstar’s non-voting shares to 40.6%.
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Meantime, Torstar has been doing deals with another troubled media giant, Postmedia Network, which some think may be the precursor to a merger. Despite recent losses, Torstar has more than C$60 million in cash and no bank indebtedness.
The stock continues to pay a small quarterly dividend of $0.025, to yield 6.25%. This stock could conceivably go to zero.
But if Fairfax successfully applies its turnaround skills (it says it will consult with management even if it only owns non-voting shares) and/or a deal emerges with Postmedia to combine their most valuable assets and shed the rest, this stock could be a big surprise.