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in 2020 indian-born canadian billionaire prem watson was honored with india's fourth highest civilian award the padma shri recognizing his distinguished service in the field of trade and industry the 71 year old is the founder chairman and ceo of toronto based fairfax financial holdings fairfax's investments in india are worth 7 billion dollars he said in a recent interview now the investor is doubling down on india with plans to invest 7 billion more in the next 5 years watsa is reportedly keen on taking a majority stake in idba bank which the government intends to privatize soon fairfax india has reportedly concluded initial talks with representatives of the finance ministry to acquire the government's 45.48 stake in idbi it may acquire a part of lic's holding too lic currently holds a 49.24 stake in the bank if one cell succeeds it would be the second instance of fairfax taking control of an indian bank in 2019 it completed its purchase of a 51 stake in csb bank formerly known as catholic syrian bank the 102 year old bank changed its name and went public in november 2019.
post ipo fairfax's holding stands at 49.7 percent prematsa the third of four children was born in hyderabad in 1950. he earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from iit madras in 1971 but he was more interested in pursuing a career in business than engineering so the following year he moved to ontario with reportedly just eight dollars and settled in with his brother he found a job selling appliances door-to-door which funded his mba program in canada after almost a decade-long career in the asset management industry he set out on his own in 1984 and fairfax was born in 1985.
he built a reputation as an astute value investor whose approach is sometimes compared with warren buffett's he is known as the warren buffett of canada because of his contrarian approach to investment he made billions for his company by correctly calling the 2008 u.s mortgage crisis he found an india-focused investment holding company following his meeting with prime minister narendra modi in november 2014.
he was however not new to investing in india he first acquired a 26 person stake in icici lombard general insurance in 2001. this went up to 35 in 2015 and by 2019 fairfax exited the insurer completely he made his second investment after almost a decade in 2011 when he bought a nine percent stake in brokerage firm iafl a year later in 2012 he acquired thomas cook india fairfax has investments in close to 20 companies in india across sectors like banking chemicals logistics finance travel and engineering its investments in india gathered pace from 2015.
fairfax built majority holdings in bangalore international airport fairchem organics national commodities management services and saurashtra fried it holds a 30 stake in quest corp one of india's largest private sector employers other major investments include a one person stake in the national stock exchange of india 43 in san marc chemicals group 26.1 in brokerage firm 5 pesa and 48.5 percent in seven islands shipping sanmar group subsidiary chem plus san mar went public last year and earlier this year fairfax acquired electrical equipment manufacturer jnx engineering digit insurance is fairfax's only startup investment in india it owns 49 percent of its parent company go digit in 4 works the startup is reportedly considering raising about 500 million dollars in an ipo at a valuation of 4.5 to 5 billion watsa recently said that pm modi has made india business friendly he hails the government's privatization push saying it will attract more foreign companies investment and talent to india the expectation that the share of state-owned enterprises in the overall market cap will decline in india also bodes well for the country he said listed public sector enterprises make up 10 of the combined market cap of the top 50 companies in india compared to 45 in china finally according to him manageable public debt levels comfortable foreign reserves and the possibility of a large section of the population moving into the middle class with development make india the number one investment spot if you like this video share it and subscribe to business standard for more news views and insights log on to www.businesshyphenstandard.com do also follow us on youtube twitter facebook instagram telegram and linkedin consignment technical tools or investment ideas download 5 pesa now investing easy and rewarding with 5 investments in securities market are subject to market risks read all the related documents carefully before investing
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