What’s New: In Brief (November 20, 2009)

Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited (TSX and NYSE: FFH) intends to voluntarily delist its subordinate voting shares from the New York Stock Exchange.
After delisting from the NYSE, Fairfax’s subordinate voting shares will continue to be listed on the TSX, where they will be traded in both Canadian and U.S. dollars under the trading symbols FFH and FFH.U, respectively.
“While our decentralized operations have global reach, after reviewing the factors relevant to our continued listing on the NYSE, we determined that our company and its shareholders will be better served by the simplified focus and lower cost resulting from the maintenance of only our original TSX listing,” said Prem Watsa, Fairfax’s chairman and CEO.
“In recent years, as markets have become significantly more global and liquid, our constituents, including shareholders and employees, no longer require multiple listings.”

Kingsway Financial Services has asked the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania to declare the Oct. 19 donation of Kingsway’s shares of Lincoln General Insurance Company was lawful and did not require prior approval from the state’s insurance regulator.
On Nov. 17 the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance (DOI) announced it was taking legal action against Kingsway. The DOI insisted that state law requires the regulator’s approval of a change of control of a Pennsylvania-domestic insurer.
It added that Kingsway’s donation of its shares to charities left Lincoln without “having another entity as the controlling shareholder.”
Kingsway maintains that the donations of the Lincoln shares to charities were lawfully made and that the DOI has no legal basis for demanding the unwinding of the donations.