- CEO
- V. Prem Watsa
- Full Time Employees
- 47,040
- Sector
- Financial Services
- Industry
- Insurance - Property & Casualty
- Address
- 95 Wellington Street West Toronto ON Canada M5J 2N7
- IPO Date
- Nov 10, 2015
- Business
- Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited is a holding company primarily engaged in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, along with associated investment management activities through its subsidiaries. The company offers a broad range of insurance products including coverage against property losses from fire, explosion, earthquake, windstorm, flood, terrorism, boiler explosion, machinery breakdown, and construction defects; automobile, commercial and personal property, crop, workers' compensation, employer's liability, accident and health, medical malpractice, professional liability, and umbrella insurance; marine, aerospace, surety risk, and other specialty liabilities; and comprehensive reinsurance solutions. Additional services encompass life insurance and run-off management, as well as non-insurance operations such as restaurant franchising and ownership, sports lifestyle retail, travel and financial services, agricultural digital tools, holiday resorts, value-added pulses and staple foods processing, and hospitality real estate development. Fairfax operates decentralized subsidiaries across North America (Northbridge Financial, Crum & Forster, Zenith National), global reinsurers (Odyssey Group, Brit, Allied World), international markets in Asia (Falcon Insurance, Fairfax Asia entities), Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa, targeting commercial, specialty, and personal lines customers worldwide. Fairfax India Holdings provides focused investments in Indian equities and debt. Founded in 1985 and headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Fairfax pursues long-term book value growth through disciplined underwriting and value-oriented investing. Recent developments include the 2024 consolidation of Gulf Insurance Group following its acquisition, which contributed to 13% gross premium growth; the completion of a $1.7 billion acquisition of Sleep Country Canada in July 2024; securing a controlling interest in Bauer Hockey's parent company in September 2024; full ownership of Brit Insurance via the December 2024 purchase of OMERS' stake for US$383 million; and the November 2025 acquisition of UK-based MW Eat restaurant group for global expansion.