India-born Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa has stepped down as chairman of Fairfax India Holdings Corp, but will continue to be associated with the asset management firm as one of its directors.
Prem Watsa will be replaced by his son Benjamin (Ben) Watsa, who has been appointed as chairman of the company’s board effective July 1, the investment firm said in a statement.
Prem Watsa has been chairman of Fairfax India, a Toronto-listed firm set up by Fairfax Financial Holdings Corp to invest in India, since 2015.
Ben Watsa is the founder and chief executive of Marval Capital Ltd, an investment firm that started in 2017. Marval focuses on investments in the Indian market, especially in small and mid-cap publicly listed companies. He has a career spanning 23 years in the investment industry, beginning in 2001.
Before Marval, Ben Watsa worked at Lissom Investment Management Inc. for 11 years, where he was a partner and portfolio manager, managing Lissom’s small and mid-cap North American equity fund.
Prior to Lissom, he spent over five years in New York as an investment banker in the Financial Institutions Group, working as an analyst at Banc of America Securities and an associate at Cochran Caronia Waller. Additionally, he serves as a director of Fairfax Financial Holdings.
Meanwhile, Fairfax India has promoted Gopalakrishnan Soundarajan, currently the chief operating officer and a director of Fairfax India, to the role of chief executive officer (CEO) of the firm effective July 1.
Soundarajan joined Fairfax in 2019 and has played an important role in Fairfax India’s investments in India, the firm said. Prior to joining Fairfax, he was head of investments at ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd.
The current CEO of Fairfax India, Chandran Ratnaswami, will become executive vice chairman of the firm effective July 1. Ratnaswami joined Fairfax as a portfolio advisor and director of International Investments in 1993 and has been CEO of Fairfax India since its inception in 2015. In his role as executive vice chairman, he will remain fully engaged in the company’s investments and operations and will continue to serve on its board.
Since its inception in 2015, Fairfax India has made investments in several Indian companies. Some of its well-known investments include Digit, IIFL Finance, CSB Bank, NSE, Fairchem Organics and 5paisa.
