Canadian papers have circulated rumors Which papers? I've seen no such rumors. You don't flippantly make $5 billion dollar bids -- the problem Fairfax encounte

Canadian papers have circulated rumors Which papers? I've seen no such rumors. You don't flippantly make $5 billion dollar bids -- the problem Fairfax encountered was that in such a deal they need some banks to sidle up with them, and few (or no) banks wanted to. Also, Fairfax wanted to take the company private. You can't do that secretly or incrementally. It is an all-out endeavor, exactly as they attempted. I believe their bid was sincere.