Prem Watsa is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Fairfax Financial Holdings, which is one of the biggest companies in Canada. He is a first-generation entrepreneur, who moved to Canada in his '20s and built a multi-billion company from scratch. He always prioritises long-term bets instead of short-term gains, which is why he managed to create a financial service and investment empire in Canada. He is currently one of the most famous billionaires in India and Canada.
The billionaire ruled the headlines in August 2024 when his company, Fairfax Financial Holdings started leading the race to acquire India's famous scheduled commercial bank, IDBI Bank (Industrial Development Bank of India). According to a report in Moneycontrol, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is looking for investors, who are ready to purchase IDBI Bank. As soon as the RBI approved all the companies to purchase IDBI Bank, a series of renowned names made the cut.
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Three major names are leading the race ahead of everyone else, and they're none other than the Kotak Mahindra Bank, NBD Emirates, and Fairfax India Holdings. While Kotak Mahindra Bank is owned by Uday Suresh Kotak, NBD Emirates is owned by the Dubai government, and Fairfax India Holdings belongs to Prem Watsa.
As per reports, Fairfax Holdings wants to acquire a substantial 60.7 per cent ownership in the IDBI Bank. Although the deal is far from being settled, RBI has reportedly given the much-needed approval to Fairfax India Holdings for their aspirational acquisition of IDBI Bank.
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The Indian-Canadian billionaire, Prem Watsa was born into a middle-class family on August 5, 1950, in Hyderabad. While his father was a school teacher, and later became a school principal, not much is known about his mother. Talking about his educational qualifications, Prem Watsa completed his schooling at Hyderabad Public School. For graduation, he took admission in Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, to pursue a degree in Chemical Engineering. Not only this, Prem also earned an MBA degree at London's Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.
In a conversation with prominent investor, Ramesh Damani, Prem Watsa once opened up about his family background and shockingly revealed that his father, Manohar Clarence Watsa lived his life as an orphan. Sharing more details about the same, Prem Watsa revealed that his father's parents died when he was 2 or 3 years old. After the demise of his father's parents, it was Manohar's grandparents, who took care of him. However, even they passed away when Manohar was in his early '10s.
After the demise of Manohar Clarence Watsa's parents and grandparents, he took charge of his life. Prem Watsa's father was good in sports and education. Thus, he completed a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Education and Master of Education. Soon after completing his degrees, Prem Watsa's father, Manohar became a teacher and later served as a school's principal.
Prem Watsa also revealed that due to the fact that his father was the Principal of Hyderabad Public School, he got the chance to study there. Calling himself 'fortunate', Prem Watsa added that his father, Manohar Clarence Watsa greatly influenced his life and everything he had achieved in his career.
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Courtesy of his exceptional knowledge and track record in the investment industry, Prem Watsa is dubbed as the 'Canadian Warren Buffett'. Well, a big credit to his immaculate success goes to the time he spent at IIT, Madras, where he completed his graduation degree, which set the pace of his career.
However, apart from the professional gains, Prem Watsa's time at IIT, Madras also shaped his personal life. According to a report in the Economic Times, he met the love of his life and wife, Nalini Loganadhan, in his final year. After dating each other for some time, reportedly in a long-distance relationship, Nalini and Prem got married in the next few years. The couple has three children, two daughters and a son.
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Right from an early age, Prem Watsa wanted to become an entrepreneur, so he took the bold step of moving to Canada with just Rs. 64 in his pocket. A young Prem Watsa sold furnaces and conditioners in order to support his education in the beginning. As time passed, he joined Confederation Life Insurance Co. as a research analyst. In the following years, he studied the theories of Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett in order to understand the art of investing. In 1984, he started Hamblin Watsa Investment Counsel with some people.
However, things changed completely when Prem Watsa took control of Markel Financial in 1985, which he re-organised and renamed Fairfax Financial Holdings, and the rest is history. Despite being the richest Indian in Canada, Prem lives a low-key life, far from the media glare. However, in recent decades, his prediction of the fall of Japanese stock prices in 1990 and the meltdown of the US in 2008 gained him enough popularity in the media circuit. The billionaire businessman has an estimated net worth of Rs. 14171 crores, and it's incredible how he built it with just Rs. 64 in his pocket when he landed in Canada.
What are your thoughts on Prem Watsa's inspirational success story? Can he crack the deal to own IDBI Bank? Let us know.
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