Fairfax Africa Holdings Corporation

Second Quarter Financial Results

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(Note: All dollar amounts in this news release are expressed in U.S. dollars except as otherwise noted. The financial results are prepared using the recognition and measurement requirements of International Financial Reporting Standards, except as otherwise noted, and are unaudited.)

TORONTO, July 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fairfax Africa Holdings Corporation (TSX: FAH.U) announces a net loss of $4.2 million in the second quarter of 2020 ($0.07 net loss per diluted share), compared to a net loss of $16.2 million in the second quarter of 2019 ($0.27 net loss per diluted share), reflecting decreased net unrealized losses on investments in the quarter.

Strategic Transaction with Helios Holdings Limited:

• On July 10, 2020 the company announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement with Helios Holdings Group pursuant to which the Helios Holdings Group will contribute certain economic fee streams to Fairfax Africa in exchange for a 45.9% equity and voting interest in the pro forma share capital of Fairfax Africa (the “Transaction”). Following completion of the Transaction, Fairfax Africa will be renamed Helios Fairfax Partners Corporation (“HFP”) and its subordinate voting shares will continue to be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In connection with the Transaction, Fairfax Africa will sell its 42.4% equity interest in Atlas Mara to Fairfax for an aggregate purchase price of $40 million. In addition Fairfax will guarantee any obligations of Atlas Mara under the Atlas Mara Facility. The Transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2020, subject to customary conditions including receipt of applicable regulatory and shareholder approvals.
  
  
• Upon closing, Tope Lawani and Babatunde Soyoye (the co-founders and Managing Partners of Helios Investment Partners LLP (“Helios”), the investment advisor to the Helios funds) will be appointed as co-Chief Executive Officers of HFP, Helios will be appointed sole investment advisor to HFP, and Michael Wilkerson will be appointed Executive Vice Chairman of HFP.
   
• “We are excited to partner with Tope and Babatunde in establishing Helios Fairfax Partners. They have an outstanding track record in investing in Africa over the past 15 years. Our cultures are very similar and Tope and Babatunde, with our support, aim to establish the pre-eminent investment vehicle for Africa in the years to come. We believe this partnership will be good for Africa, the shareholders of Fairfax Africa and Helios and the employees of both organizations," said Prem Watsa, Chairman and CEO of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited.

Highlights in the second quarter of 2020 included the following: