Opinions Andy Nasr
Fairfax India Holdings CorpFIH.U.TOCOMMENTSep 20, 2016
Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 08, 2026. Market Open.
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One of his highest-conviction investment ideas. Trades at a discount to NAV. A stock to buy for the next decade. India is the largest democracy on the planet, very young demographic, fast-growing economy. Lots of pro-growth and pro-business reforms happening.
Portfolio of $3.5B worth of different investments, both public and private. Crown jewel is 74% stake in Bangalor Airport, a high-quality global infrastructure asset; its eventual spinout could be a real catalyst for the share price. No dividend.
Colin Stewart
Colin Stewart
Jaime CarrascoIndia is one of those areas of the world where people talk of the long term story. They are relatively insulated from trade wars. He is caught on the long term India market. It is expensive. He owns SCIF-N.
He's heding his currency, because he expects the Canadian dollar will go down, so he wants cash flow outside the country to hedge this cash flow. He also wants to get rid of some of North American financials. Only 5% of home owners in India have insurance, so there's massive growth. He has faith in Prem Watsa. (Analysts’ price target is $16.75)
Jaime CarrascoIndia's currency has fallen. Oil pricess have rose (their big product), so inflation is running rampant now. FIU is like a hedge fund for Prem Watsa. So, he'd rather own Fairfax parent company, FFH, than this subsidiary. FIU is mostly infrastructure. He doesn't like how they manage this Indian subsidiary.
Hold or sell? Prem Watsa is bright and capable. So he’s puzzled that this has failed to gain. India still has big challenges. Inclined to hold and give it some time. If he were way up, might sell some. Betting on Watsa’s ability to navigate investments in India. Lots of opportunity, but lots of history to overcome.
Very interesting. Selling at a reasonable P/E. Prem Watsa knows India as well as who to partner with. India is a growing economy. So, investing with Watsa and Fairfax is a good idea. This is a long-term play, but you must ride future market dislocations. India has an established rule of law, unlike many other emerging economies, so this protects investing to a degree.
IPO’d in 2014. They raised $1 billion with the premise being they were going to take the money and buy public and private securities in India. They have made several transactions. It is going to evolve and they are probably going to raise additional money to make more acquisitions, however, it is tough to get a handle on because the businesses are relatively opaque and disclosure is not all that good. If anything, he would be inclined to wait for a pullback and buy it at a discount to NAV. However, if you are looking at this as an emerging market, he thinks the fundamentals are fine.