Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited reported fiscal year 2025 net earnings of $4.77 billion, up 23% from 2024, as the Canadian P&C group posted record underwriting profit and moved to take Kennedy-Wilson Holdings private in a deal worth up to $1.65 billion.
Book value per basic share rose 20.5% to $1,260.19 as of December 31. Net premiums written by Fairfax Financial's P&C insurance and reinsurance operations climbed 3.9% to a record $26.3 billion, while gross premiums written rose 2.3% to $33.3 billion.
The company pointed to new business across reinsurance and casualty lines and modest rate increases as drivers.
The consolidated undiscounted combined ratio was 93.0%, producing record underwriting profit of $1.82 billion, up from 92.7% and $1.79 billion in 2024. Current period catastrophe losses rose to $1.24 billion from $1.10 billion.
Adjusted operating income for the P&C operations dipped 2.8% to $4.63 billion. Float grew 11.2% to $39.3 billion at year-end, while portfolio investments stood at $70.0 billion.
Net gains on investments totaled $3.15 billion, driven by common stock gains. Consolidated interest and dividends rose to $2.57 billion.
The life insurance and run-off segment posted an operating loss of $213.7 million, up from $92.1 million in 2024, due to $298.5 million in net adverse reserve development tied to latent hazard claims.
The results place Fairfax Financial well ahead of peer Markel Group, which reported 2025 net income of $2.11 billion on a combined ratio of 94.6% and an investment portfolio roughly half the size.
Markel also disclosed it had sold the renewal rights for its global reinsurance division in August 2025, placing $1.0 billion in gross premium volume into run-off.
Separately, Fairfax and a consortium led by Kennedy-Wilson CEO William McMorrow announced on February 17 a definitive agreement to take the real estate firm private at $10.90 per share.
A company filing shows the price represents a 46% premium to Kennedy-Wilson's unaffected share price as of November 4, 2025.
The transaction caps a partnership dating to 2010, when Fairfax first invested $100 million in Kennedy-Wilson equity. The two firms have since co-invested in more than $8 billion in acquisitions, company filings show.
That relationship deepened in 2020 with a $2 billion real estate debt platform, later expanded to a $5 billion target after a $300 million perpetual preferred equity investment in 2022.
Post-closing, McMorrow's management team will retain operational control, while Fairfax holds a majority economic interest. Kennedy-Wilson, which manages $31 billion in assets across the US, UK, and Ireland, is expected to delist from the NYSE when the deal closes in Q2 2026.
Chairman and CEO Prem Watsa (pictured above) said all major P&C insurance and reinsurance segments achieved combined ratios below 100%, delivering "record underwriting profit of $1.8 billion, on an undiscounted basis."
Watsa also cited $3.2 billion in net investment gains alongside record interest and dividend income of $2.6 billion. The company repurchased over one million shares during the year for $1.6 billion.
