Fairfax CEO Watsa buys back company shares

Prem Watsa, CEO of Fairfax Financial Holdings (TSE: FFH), says he plans to acquire through the public market up to 250,000 subordinate voting shares of Fairfax, which based on the current trading price of the company’s common stock, the purchase(s) represent a value of approximately $51 million. Fairfax will not provide financing for the share purchases, a company statement says.Watsa notes that, with Fairfax’s stock trading at below book value, acquiring the shares at current pricing is "attractive". The value of Fairfax’s common shares surged from the beginning of this month from around $145 a share to the current $205 a share. The stock’s low for the past 12 months was $57 a share.