Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. said Prem Watsa, its chair and CEO, has purchased in the market 482,600 subordinate voting shares of Fairfax for just under $149 million.

“At our AGM and on our first quarter earnings release call, I said that our shares are ‘ridiculously cheap,'” Watsa commented in a statement.

“That statement reflected my recognition that in the 35 years since Fairfax began, I have never seen Fairfax shares sell at a bigger discount to their intrinsic value than they have recently,” he added.

“I have now backed up my strong words by purchasing close to US$150 million of Fairfax shares in the market over the last few days, as I believe that this will be an excellent long term investment.”

Fairfax is a holding company which, through its subsidiaries, is engaged in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance and the associated investment management.

Source: Fairfax Financial Holdings

Photo caption: Prem Watsa, CEO of Fairfax, by Norm Betts/Bloomberg News