Fairfax Removes Hedges on Equity Portfolio Investments

Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited announces that it has removed the hedge on its equity portfolio investments by covering its S&P and S&P/TSX60 equity index total return swaps.

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"During our third quarter conference call on October 31, 2008, I disclosed that we had reduced our equity portfolio hedging from 100% to 65% of our equity investment portfolio and of course that at some point we may remove the hedge on our equity portfolio. That day has come," said Prem Watsa, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Given the unprecedented decline of the equity markets during the past several months, we felt it was prudent to promptly inform our shareholders that we closed out our equity index total return swaps this week and effectively eliminated our equity portfolio hedge. While we believe the recession may be long and deep, we also believe that stock prices may have already discounted the worst of the economic decline. As value investors, we are finding an incredible number of investment opportunities across the world. That said, in the short term we recognize that stock markets can continue to fall significantly."

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