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Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd T.FFH

Alternate Symbol(s):  FRFHF | T.FFH.PR.C | FXFLF | FRFZF | T.FFH.PR.D | FRFGF | T.FFH.PR.E | FXFHF | T.FFH.PR.F | FAXRF | T.FFH.PR.G | FAXXF | T.FFH.PR.H | FRFXF | T.FFH.PR.I | T.FFH.PR.J | T.FFH.PR.K | FRFFF | T.FFH.PR.M | FFHPF

Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited is a Canada-based holding company. The Company, through its subsidiaries, is engaged in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance and the associated investment management. The Company’s segments include Property and Casualty Insurance and Reinsurance, Life insurance and Run-off and Non-insurance companies. The Property and Casualty Insurance and Reinsurance segment includes North American Insurers, Global Insurers and Reinsurers and International Insurers and Reinsurers. The Life Insurance and Run-off segment include Eurolife and Run-off. The Non-insurance companies segment includes restaurants and retail, Fairfax India, Thomas Cook India and others. Eurolife underwrites traditional life insurance policies (endowments, deferred annuities, whole life and term life), group benefits, including retirement benefits, and accident and health insurance policies. The North American Insurers include Northbridge, Crum & Forster and Zenith National.


TSX:FFH - Post by User

Post by retiredcfon Feb 08, 2024 9:54am
319 Views
Post# 35869656

Muddy Waters

Muddy WatersAs always, they're in for a fast buck before reality sets in and they go away. GLTA

Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. (FFH-T) was lower in response to short seller Muddy Waters placing bets against its shares, alleging manipulation in asset values.

Property and casualty insurers like Fairfax have until recently struggled since 2017 when they recorded huge losses due to billions of dollars in payouts on catastrophes.

“This underperformance pressured Fairfax into becoming aggressive in pulling accounting levers starting in 2018,” Muddy Waters said in a research note.

“We find that Fairfax has consistently manipulated asset values and income by engaging in often value destructive transactions to produce accounting gains.”

Fairfax could not be immediately reached for a comment. Short sellers make money by betting that the price of a security (such as a stock) will decrease.

Muddy Waters also alleged that Fairfax carried several of its investments at “unrealistic” carrying values. According to the hedge fund, the market value of its shares in Indian outsourcing provider Quess Corp was $477.2-million, while Fairfax continued to carry it at about $1-billion.

In 2019, Fairfax raised its stake in Quess to over 32 per cent after acquiring over 256,000 shares. As of Sept. 30, Fairfax carries the Indian company at a 87-per-cent premium to its market value, Muddy Waters said.

Last year, the hedge fund bet against the credit of the Luxembourg-based commercial landlord CPI Property Group in November and Blackstone’s real estate investment trust in December.

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