I doubt you ever had. His investment holding company has outperformed Berkshire's return over time.
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Source: Bloomberg
Desmarais, 82, started out with a backwoods Ontario bus
line in 1951. Now, he and his family control Power Corporation
of Canada, a holding company headquartered in an unmarked,
eight-story building on Montreal's leafy Victoria Square. Paul
Sr.'s sons, Paul Jr., 54, and Andre, 52, are co-chief executive
officers. Together, the brothers govern a labyrinthine business
empire that extends from Denver to Geneva to Hong Kong, with
seats on 38 related corporate boards.
Desmarais, 82, started out with a backwoods Ontario bus
line in 1951. Now, he and his family control Power Corporation
of Canada, a holding company headquartered in an unmarked,
eight-story building on Montreal's leafy Victoria Square. Paul
Sr.'s sons, Paul Jr., 54, and Andre, 52, are co-chief executive
officers. Together, the brothers govern a labyrinthine business
empire that extends from Denver to Geneva to Hong Kong, with
seats on 38 related corporate boards.
Power Corp. owns 66 percent of Power Financial Corp., a web
of North American insurance and asset management companies with
2008 revenue of C$36.5 billion ($32.7 billion). In 2007, the
Desmarais bought Putnam Investments, a once mighty, Boston-based
mutual fund company that had been wounded by a trading scandal
and weak fund performance.
The $3.9 billion deal closed two months before the Standard
& Poor's 500 Index peaked in October 2007. Power Financial's
biggest challenge is to make good on plans to renovate Putnam
into a flagship for U.S. expansion, after the mutual fund
manager's assets were almost halved by the 2008 plunge in global
markets.
In Europe, the Desmarais have been partners with Albert
Frere, one of Belgium's richest men, for almost two decades.
Together, they hold stakes in Total SA, Europe's third-biggest
oil and gas company, based in Courbevoie, France; Paris-based
Lafarge SA, the world's biggest cement maker; and Paris-based
GDF Suez SA, the world's second-biggest utility. Paul Desmarais
Jr. is a director of all three.
In China, the Desmarais own 4.3 percent of Hong Kong-based
Citic Pacific Ltd., a steel, mining and real estate development
company with a market value of $7.2 billion as of July 13. Andre
Desmarais joined the board in 1997. His father first ventured
into China in the 1970s.
Those who bet on Power Corp. in the 15 years from 1993 to
2008 earned slightly more than investors in Omaha, Nebraska-
based Berkshire Hathaway, according to data compiled by
Bloomberg. Power Corp.'s average annual return in the period,
including reinvested dividends, was 14.5 percent. Berkshire,
which pays no dividend, returned an average of 14.1 percent. The
comparison is in local currencies.
The Desmarais also run a $1.6 billion, Paris-based private
equity firm called Sagard Private Equity Partners. Investors
include companies managed by the Frere family; Bernard Arnault,
CEO of luxury goods giant LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA;
and Laurent Dassault of the French aviation family, who's on
Power Corp.'s board.
