Fairfax buys additional shares of Odyssey Re

Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. (TSX, NYSE: FFH) has bought 4.3 million outstanding common shares of its own spin-off, Odyssey Re Holdings Corp.. As a result of the private transaction, Fairfax now owns more than 52.36 million or 80% of more than 65 million outstanding common shares of Odyssey Re.The subsidiary has issue US$78.05 million principal amount of 3.15% “exchangeable notes” due Feb. 28, 2010, which are exchangeable into 2.15 million Odyssey Re common shares for two week periods commencing on Nov. 19, 2004 and Feb. 16, 2005 respectively. “The purchase was made for investment purposes and in order for Odyssey Re to be included in Fairfax’s U.S. consolidated tax group,” states a Fairfax release.