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Context is everything.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
For the past two decades, the Canadian billionaire has been working towards building a conglomerate in the country, and there’s no stopping him.
In 2018, Prem Watsa, the Indian-born Canadian billionaire, became the first-ever foreign promoter to gain a controlling stake in an Indian bank. His Fairfax India Holdings acquired 51% of Thrissur-headquartered CSB Bank, a century-old private lender that was deep in the red at the time.
Under Fairfax, an insurance and asset management conglomerate, the bank pulled off a turnaround, delivering profits and cleaning up its loan book. Now, Watsa has his eye on government-controlled IDBI Bank.
Finance ministry officials have held preliminary talks with Toronto-based Fairfax and other bidders, The Economic Times reported last week. A deal could involve the …
The acquisition of IDBI Bank puts his Fairfax smack dab in the middle of the RBI’s rules on bank ownership. It must now decide whether to sell CSB Bank or merge the two lenders, neither of which will be easy.
Lenders stand to gain a lot more than borrowers in the current challenging market environment
The central bank’s shift to a 100% collateral requirement threatens to erode leverage, reduce volumes and force a consolidation across prop desks.
