The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday, May 29, edition that Fairfax Financial Holdings chief executive officer Prem Watsa has grown the company into one of the largest insurance-based conglomerates in the world. The Globe's guest columnist Norman Rothery writes that the journey has been a profitable one because Fairfax's stock changed hands at $3.25 (U.S.) a share when Mr. Watsa gained control of the firm in 1985 and it is now near the $1,000 (U.S.)-a-share mark. Despite the gains, Mr. Rothery says the firm is a relative bargain near 0.9 times book value. The market also has not fully recognized the global insurance powerhouse Fairfax has become. James East, who runs the ACI Partnership Fund, points to Fairfax's insurance operations as being better than many of its "top tier" competitors. Mr. East likes to hold quality companies, purchased at modest prices, for long periods of time, and his fund's core holdings have typically been held for more than six years. The fund's portfolio has fared well, with average annual gains of 9.2 per cent from the end of 2007 through to the end of 2022. During the 2008 financial crisis the fund's portfolio climbed 9 per cent, thanks -- in part -- to an investment in Fairfax.