‘Canada’s Warren Buffett’ passes the torch: Prem Watsa confirms son Ben as Fairfax heir

From Hyderabad to Toronto, the billionaire investor charts a legacy play as Fairfax’s next phase unfolds. (REUTERS/Aaron Harris/File Photo)

Indian-origin billionaire Prem Watsa has revealed his long-awaited succession plan, his son, Ben Watsa, will eventually take over as chairman of Fairfax Financial Holdings, the $100-billion global investment and insurance giant he built from scratch.

The disclosure, made in an upcoming book The Fairfax Way by author David Thomas, marks the first time the 75-year-old has publicly confirmed who will carry forward his legacy. A draft of the book, seen by The Economic Times, outlines Watsa’s vision for “continuity and culture” within the Canada-headquartered group.

The Buffett parallel, and a billion-dollar India bet

Often dubbed “Canada’s Warren Buffett,” Hyderabad-born Watsa founded Fairfax in 1985 as a modest insurance firm. It’s now worth $35 billion and has investments spanning the world, with a particularly heavy tilt toward India.

Fairfax has ploughed nearly $7 billion into Indian businesses, owning stakes in GoDigit Insurance, Thomas Cook India, Quess Corp, CSB Bank, and Bengaluru International Airport. The group has also been linked to the government’s planned sale of IDBI Bank.

“Fairfax is in one of its most promising phases,” Watsa told ET, noting that the firm’s shares have quadrupled in value since October 2022.

The succession blueprint

Ben Watsa, 46, has been on Fairfax’s board since 2014 and runs Marval Capital, a fund focused exclusively on Indian equities. The Marval Guru Fund, with a $400-million corpus, recently topped Canada’s institutional fund rankings with an impressive 30 percent annualised return over five years.

In The Fairfax Way, Watsa tells Thomas, “It’s important that shareholders and the company know there is a plan for continuity… It’s not like I will be ruling from the grave, but I will die knowing the culture will continue to flourish.”

For Fairfax insiders, that “culture,” the so-called Fairfax Way, refers to Watsa’s patient, value-driven investment philosophy rooted in ethical compounding and long-term bets, especially in emerging markets.

From Hyderabad Public School to global boardrooms

Watsa’s journey from the corridors of Hyderabad Public School, alma mater to Satya Nadella, Ajay Banga, and Shantanu Narayen, to the skyscrapers of Toronto finance is the stuff of entrepreneurial folklore.

He left India in the 1970s at his father’s urging, despite “zero desire to leave.” That decision set him on a path that would eventually redefine global insurance investing.

His son Ben, the heir apparent, represents the next chapter in that transcontinental story — one that fuses Canadian capital discipline with an Indian market pulse.

The bigger picture

At 75, Watsa says he has “no plans to step away” but wants Fairfax shareholders to be reassured about continuity. His generational handover is also symbolic: a reminder that the icons of global investing are thinking hard about the future of their empires, and who inherits their philosophies, not just their portfolios.

As The Fairfax Way readies for release by Penguin Random House, the Watsa succession signals more than a family transition. It’s a moment of reckoning for a company, and a man, whose biggest legacy may yet be how he institutionalises integrity, long-termism, and India’s growing role in the global investment narrative.