Some readers called my attention this Bloomberg story about Fairfax Financial (FFH) and the legal action swirling around it and various short-sellers. It's a long article. So you might bookmark it for later if you can't read it now.

One item I found interesting is that Spyro Contogouris, the could-be "hedge fund hit man" in the Bloomberg article, has detected what he calls the "Friends of Fairfax" club:

Among the club members, according to Contogouris: Mason Hawkins, chief executive officer of Memphis, Tennessee-based Southeastern Asset Management Inc. Southeastern is Fairfax's largest shareholder, with 21.5 percent of the stock as of June. Lee Harper, a spokeswoman for Southeastern, didn't return telephone calls seeking comment.

The report didn't mention Peter Cundill, but last I heard various Cundill entities own almost as much Fairfax stock as Southeastern. In fact, a Dow Jones wire report on Fairfax sometime back said that Southeastern and Cundill together account for approximately 40% of Fairfax stock.

In posting about this legal action in the past, I've always stressed that I don't know the people involved and that I'm not a lawyer. I have no idea whether or not the legal action has merit.

What I can say and do say is this: I'm content to be a holder of Fairfax stock. And I'm happy to be on the same side of all this as Prem Watsa, Mason Hawkins and Peter Cundill. That and almost two dollars will buy you a grande coffee at my nearest Starbucks, but that's the way it is. :-)

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John Bethel

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