Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. is delisting from the New York Stock Exchange, having decided that the expense and hassle of being listed in the United States outweigh the benefits. The Toronto-based company has been listed on the NYSE for about seven years. In 2006, it filed a lawsuit in New Jersey alleging that a group of powerful U.S. hedge funds shorted its shares and then schemed to drive down its stock price using a series of tactics, including intimidating executives and influencing analysts. For a time, the company felt that a U.S. listing was necessary to enable its American employees to own its shares, and to attract U.S. investors. But these days it's relatively simple for U.S. investors to use the Canadian exchange, and Fairfax's ability to easily raise $1-billion through a share offering in September has demonstrated its ability to attract investors. "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," chief executive officer Prem Watsa said in a press release yesterday. The voluntary delisting is expected to take effect around Dec. 10. FFH (TSX) rose 35 cents to $383.47.
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