Good morning. Welcome to Fairfax's second quarter results conference call. Your lines have been placed in a listen-only mode. After the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. At that time, to ask a question, please press star one on your keypad. For time's sake, we ask that you limit your questions to one. Today's conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. Your host for today's call is Prem Watsa, with opening remarks from Mr. Derek Bulas. Mr. Bulas, please begin.
Good morning, welcome to our call to discuss Fairfax's 2021 second quarter results. This call may include forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ, perhaps materially, from those contained in such forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of uncertainties and risk factors, the most foreseeable of which are set out under risk factors in our base shelf prospectus, which has been filed with Canadian securities regulators and is available on SEDAR, and which now include the risk of adverse consequences to Fairfax's business, investments, and personnel resulting from or related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fairfax disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable securities law. I'll now turn the call over to our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Prem Watsa.
Hey. Thank you, Derek. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Fairfax's 2021 second quarter conference call. I plan to give you some of the highlights and then pass it on to Peter Clarke, our Chief Operating Officer, to comment on our insurance and reinsurance operations, and Jennifer Allen, our Chief Financial Officer, to provide some additional financial details.
Fairfax had an outstanding second quarter, with net earnings of CAD 1.2 billion or an earnings per share of CAD 43.25, and gross premiums were up 27% with a combined ratio of 94.3%. Insurance and investments are working well together. Fairfax's book value per share in the first six months of 2021 increased by 15.2%, adjusted for the CAD 10 per share common dividend paid in the first quarter, to CAD 541 per share. Our net earnings of CAD 1.2 billion were a record for our quarter, but of course, they reflected significant unrealized gains.
All of our major insurance companies generated combined ratios of less than 100%. More on this from Peter Clarke. In the second quarter, operating income was strong at CAD 398 million. Net gains on investments were CAD 1.3 billion, with gains on net equity exposures of approximately CAD 900 million and a CAD 425 million gain on our preferred shares in Digit Insurance.
The net gains on equities included unrealized gains on BlackBerry, Stelco, and BDT. Not included in the net gain numbers, mark-to-market movements in our non-insurance investments in associates and certain consolidated investments, which we have described in our annual report. These investments increased in the second quarter by approximately CAD 340 million. Any gains or losses in these securities will typically only be accounted for when sold. We have provided a table on our MD&A on page 73 that provides the unrealized gains and losses on these securities.
As we mentioned at our annual meetings and in our annual reports and quarterly calls, with IFRS accounting, where stocks and bonds are recorded at market and subject to mark-to-market gains or losses, quarterly and annual income will fluctuate, and investment results will only make sense over the long term. As I've said previously, long-term value investing has gone through a very difficult time for many years now. Valuations of value-oriented stocks versus growth stocks, particularly technology, have never been so extreme in the recent past, exceeding even the extremes of the dot com era in 2000. As the economy normalizes, we expect a reversion to the mean, with value-oriented stocks coming to the fore. After the Pfizer vaccine was announced last November, we started to see this take place.
In June, we increased our ownership interest in Singapore Reinsurance from 28.2% to 94% for about $103 million through the completion of a public cash offer and commenced consolidating the assets, liabilities, and results of our operations of Singapore Re. We expect to acquire the remaining 6% and delist the company from the Singapore Exchange. Singapore Re is a general property and casualty insurer that underwrites business primarily in Southeast Asia. Singapore Re will join our Fairfax Asia operations and will facilitate our continued expansion in the region. On July 14, 2021, the company increased its interest in Eurolife to 80% by acquiring the interest of OMERS for cash consideration of approximately $143 million. The remaining 20% equity interest in Eurolife continues to be owned by Eurobank.
The company will commence consolidating the assets, liabilities, results of operations of Eurolife in its consolidated financial reporting in the third quarter of 2021. Eurolife is a Greek insurer which distributes its life and non-life insurance products and services through Eurobank's network. Since our initial investment in Eurolife, the company has increased its book value by 22% annually thanks to exceptional underwriting and investment results. We continue to have approximately CAD 1.5 billion at the holding company, predominantly in cash and short-term securities. Please note our cash in the holding company is to meet any and every contingency that Fairfax might face in the future. We are not making any long-term investments with this cash other than to support our insurance and reinsurance operations.
With the closing of the RiverStone (Barbados) Ltd. transaction, which we expect in August 2021, we intend to fully pay off our credit facility while maintaining $1.5 billion in cash at the holding company. At June 30th, 2021, the company's insurance and reinsurance companies held approximately $18 billion in cash and short-dated securities, representing approximately 40% of our portfolio investments. Should interest rates rise, as they may, the value of our fixed income portfolio will be relatively unaffected as we have not reached for yield. Rising interest rates will lead to increased investment income as we are positioned to take advantage of it. We continue to invest with Kennedy Wilson in first mortgages with a term less than five years. Our insurance subsidiaries are growing significantly, on track to generate $23 billion-$24 billion of gross premium this year at a substantial underwriting profit.
Our investment portfolio now exceeds $45 billion, and our reported book value per share has risen to $541 with strong underlying upward momentum. Most importantly, our fair and friendly culture, developed over 35 years, continues to serve us well. We think the future is bright and the best is yet to come. I will now pass the call to Peter Clarke, our Chief Operating Officer, to comment on our insurance and reinsurance operations. Peter?
Thank you, Prem Watsa. Our companies continue to produce outstanding results. The 27% growth in gross written premium over the second quarter of 2020 was one of the highest in our history, generating premiums of approximately CAD 6 billion in the quarter. We also produced a combined ratio of 94%, or CAD 228 million of underwriting profit, despite additional COVID-19 losses of CAD 69 million and increased provisions on the first quarter U.S. winter storms of CAD 87 million. By comparison, in the second quarter of 2020, we produced an underwriting loss of CAD 13 million, primarily due to higher COVID-19 losses of CAD 308 million. On the underwriting front, Northbridge and Zenith reported the lowest combined ratios, being 85% and 93% respectively. All of our major companies again produced combined ratios well below 100%.
As mentioned, our gross premiums for the quarter was up 27%, approximately 25% adjusted for foreign exchange, an increase of approximately CAD 1.3 billion in the quarter from the previous year. This growth has been made possible by the favorable market conditions that prevail in many of our markets, particularly in North America. Allied World grew its premiums by 29%, with growth especially strong in the directors and officers and excess casualty segments. Odyssey Group's gross premiums were up 25%, with expansion in both its insurance and reinsurance segments. In Canada, Northbridge's top line expanded 36% in U.S. dollar terms as it continues to register impressive rate increases, strong retention, and new business. In Canadian dollars, premiums were up 22%.
Crum & Forster increased its premium by 30%, driven by its accident and health division, and includes the rebound of its travel business that was significantly affected by the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020. While these four posted the most impressive growth among our major companies, Brit and Zenith also increased premiums this quarter as well. Of note, Brit launched its innovative follow-on syndicate Ki in the first quarter of 2021, and Ki had gross premiums of $ 77 million in the second quarter, which contributed to the overall 18% growth rate at Brit. Growth was strong in our international operations as well, with expansion in South America, Eastern Europe, and South Africa. Overall, our international companies grew by approximately $ 125 million year-over-year. We expect growth to remain strong as overall price levels continue to rise at a double-digit pace.
Our global footprint and exceptional management teams gives us the ability to generate significant organic growth. In the second quarter, our combined ratio of 94.3 benefited from a lower level of catastrophe losses in the quarter, but included increased provisions on the extraordinary winter freeze event in the U.S. in the first quarter. This added 2.2 combined ratio points in the quarter. In addition, we absorbed COVID losses of $69 million or 1.7 points in the combined ratio, principally in our reinsurance operations at Odyssey Group and Allied World. With respect to COVID, our inception to date losses now total $787 million, of which approximately half is held in IBNR. Based on knowledge today, we expect these provisions to adequately cover our exposure. At the same time, the pandemic is ongoing, as is much litigation, and therefore some uncertainty remains.
In the fourth quarter, we recorded favorable reserve development of CAD 32 million, or 0.8 of a combined ratio point, which includes unfavorable development of CAD 60 million of the previously mentioned COVID-19 losses that were attributable to the prior years. Excluding the COVID losses, our reserves developed favorably again by CAD 92 million. Our reserve position continues to strengthen as our companies expand with today's well-priced business. Another important side effect of the growth we are experiencing is the reduction in our expense ratio component of our combined ratio. Our premiums are growing faster than our underwriting expenses. Once again, this is most apparent at Allied World, where the expense ratio in the quarter dropped a full two points from 2020. We expect market conditions to remain strong throughout 2021 and well into 2022. Low interest rates, social inflation, and reduced industry risk appetite will keep the pressure on.
Our companies are well positioned to continue growing organically. Our decentralized system allows our companies to respond quickly to opportunities in their markets. When conditions are improving, this is an especially critical Fairfax advantage. I will now pass the call to Jen Allen, our chief financial officer, to comment on our investment results, our non-insurance companies' performance, and overall financial position.
Thank you, Peter. The results of the second quarter of 2021 were very strong, building on the momentum we achieved in the fourth quarter of 2020 and in the first quarter of 2021. We delivered net earnings attributed to shareholders of Fairfax of just over $1.2 billion in the second quarter of 2021, and a book value per basic share at June 30th, 2021, of $541, which represented growth in book value per share of 15.2%, adjusted to include the $10 common share dividend paid in the first quarter of 2021. Turning to some highlights on our second quarter results. Peter provided detailed commentary on our insurance and reinsurance operations. I'll start with the results of our non-insurance companies. In the second quarter of 2021, our non-insurance consolidated companies reporting operating losses of $44 million, compared to operating losses of $80 million in the second quarter of 2020.
The second quarter of 2021 included Fairfax India's performance fee accrual of $43 million, compared to nil in the second quarter of 2020. In the first six months of 2021, Fairfax India recorded a performance fee accrual of approximately $100 million, with pre-tax earnings attributed to Fairfax shareholders benefiting by about $71 million, as Fairfax India's non-controlling interest was allocated 72% of Fairfax India's expense. Excluding the impact of Fairfax India's performance fee, operating losses from our non-insurance consolidated companies decreased to a nominal loss of $1 million in the second quarter of 2020. That compares to $80 million in the second quarter of 2020, with a significant improvement noted in the restaurant and retail segment. The second quarter of 2021 saw stronger results from our restaurant and retail segment, reporting operating income of $16 million compared to an operating loss of $43 million in the second quarter of 2020.
As restrictions eased across Canada, we saw increased foot traffic at the bricks and mortar locations. This, when added to robust e-commerce platforms, drove significant double-digit revenue growth in certain companies. These factors, combined with expense management programs that were already in place, delivered healthy gross margins increases across our key operating companies, with recognition for Golf Town for achieving outstanding results in the second quarter of 2021. In the second quarter of 2021, Thomas Cook India continued to be negatively impacted by the reduced travel restrictions as a result of COVID-19. During the second quarter of 2021, India's economy impacted by a second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. It appears that the economic damage was less than experienced during 2020, with two primary reasons for this.
First, India now has a vaccine program in place, and second, there was no nationwide lockdown that was imposed during the second wave, as was done in 2020. With the vaccination penetration in India expected to continue to improve and the decline in case numbers from the second wave, Thomas Cook is seeing increased positive travel sentiments. To this end, we saw positive increases in revenue in Thomas Cook in the quarter as compared to last year. Each follow-on wave of COVID-19 may continue to have an impact on revenues. With global vaccine rollouts, we are beginning to see international travel increase and expect this trend to continue. At June 30th, 2021, we've seen significant improvements in the pre-tax excess of fair value over the adjusted carrying value of our non-insurance associates and certain consolidated non-insurance subsidiaries that the company considers to be portfolio investments.
I'll walk you quickly through a few highlights. At June 30th, 2021, the pre-tax excess was CAD 754 million. Compared to a deficiency or our adjusted carrying value was higher than the fair value at December 31st, 2020 by CAD 663 million. That's an improvement in the first half of 2021 of over CAD 1.4 billion that is not reflected in our book value per share, but is regularly reviewed by management as an indicator of investment performance. With the restaurant and other segment and Thomas Cook India contributing CAD 169 million and CAD 65 million respectively. Refer you to page 72 and 73 in our second quarter interim report for further details on the underlying positions that are driving that CAD 1.4 billion improvement. As we mentioned before, we are focused on organic growth, supported by smaller friendly acquisitions with a commitment to growing long-term shareholder value.
Given our focus on the long term and the near-term concerns on inflation, we continue to hold significant portion of our investment portfolio in cash, short-term investments, and other short-dated fixed income securities that represented approximately $18.1 billion or 39.5% of the insurance and reinsurance company's investment portfolio. While we've been extremely low interest rate and inflation rate environment for some time, things can turn quickly and significantly, and we want to make sure we're insulated from large swings that may happen. This position dampens our interest income in the short term, but protects us from rising rates and inflation, a trade-off we're willing to take to align with the focus on providing long-term benefit to our stakeholders and expect to drive long-term growth in our book value per share.
Our interest in dividend income of CAD 161 million in the second quarter of 2021 was down from the CAD 205 million in the second quarter of 2020, reflecting the lower interest income earned principally due to the general decrease in sovereign bond yields, sales and maturities of our U.S. Treasury bonds throughout 2020, and net sales of our U.S. corporate bonds in the first half of 2021. We added net purchases of first mortgage loans of CAD 408 million in the first six months of 2021 that are secured by high-quality real estate in the U.S., Ireland, and the U.K. and have terms less than five years. These investments will provide some benefit to our interest income in the later half of 2021.
Our consolidated share of profit of associates of CAD 75 million in the second quarter of 2021 reflected strong results from our investments in associates and principally were comprised of share of profit of CAD 27 million from Eurolife, CAD 26 million from Resolute, CAD 23 million from Eurobank, CAD 18 million from Atlas Corp., and it was partially offset by CAD 11 million from Kempegowda International Airport, primarily related to the continued COVID-19 related travel restrictions. We had a very favorable quarter with respect to our investment portfolio. Our net gains on investments of just under CAD 1.3 billion and over CAD 2.1 billion in the first six months of 2021.
Net gains on the investments in the second quarter were primarily comprised of the following, with the largest component coming from our net gains of $884 million on our long equity exposures, which included unrealized gains on our BlackBerry common stock and convertible debenture positions, Stelco and BDT Capital. We continue to hold our long equity total return swaps of approximately 2 million Fairfax subordinate voting shares that had an original notional amount of approximately $733 million or just under, sorry, $373 a share. As we look at potential investments that are available to Fairfax and fit within our long-term focus, Fairfax was among the best, especially when you consider where our share price is trading. We feel it's a very strong investment. The total return swap structure allows us to preserve cash and liquidity in a very effective way.
443 million of net gains on our preferred stock, with $425 million of that related to our investment in the Digit compulsory preferred shares, which I'll provide details on shortly. Third, $94 million net gain on a deconsolidation of a non-insurance subsidiary that related to Fairfax India's sale of its 48.8% equity interest in Privi for $165 million for a gain of $95 million. Lastly, $43 million on our net gains on bonds, principally related to our corporate bond portfolio. A few additional comments on the $425 million unrealized gain recorded on our investment in the Digit compulsory convertible preferred shares.
During June 2021, the company's 49% equity accounted associate Go Digit Infoworks Services, or we refer to it as Digit, entered into agreements with certain third-party investors where its underlying general insurance subsidiary, Digit Insurance, will raise approximately $200 million of new equity shares, valuing Digit Insurance at approximately $3.5 billion. At June 30th, 2021, Fairfax estimated the fair value of Digit using a probability weighted valuation model where we ascribed 60% weighting to the fair value determined through an internal discounted cash flow analysis and a 40% weighting ascribed to the risk-adjusted transaction fair value, implying a fair value for our investment in the Digit compulsory convertible preferred shares of approximately $900 million. That resulted in a net unrealized gain of $425 million, representing on an after-tax basis, a book value per share of $14.60.
Upon closing of the Digit Insurance equity issuance anticipated in the third quarter of 2021, and upon final approval by the Indian government of its previously announced intention to increase the foreign ownership limits from 49%-74%, as well as the company obtaining regulatory approval specific to our holdings in Digit, we anticipate recording an additional gain of approximately $1.4 billion that represents an an increase in book value per share of approximately $46. As we continue to advance our plans to monetize certain investments and strengthen our global insurance footprint, we have a number of key transactions that I would like to highlight that were completed in the quarter or subsequent to. Starting with our insurance company transactions, on July 14, 2021, we increased our interest in Eurolife to 80% from the 50% by acquiring the joint venture interest of OMERS for cash consideration of approximately $143 million.
I want to remind you of the disclosure in our 2021 annual report, where we provided you with Eurolife's gross premiums written of $512 million and an investment portfolio of $3.7 billion. These are significant operations that will be consolidated into our results commencing in the third quarter of 2021. On June 17th, 2021, we increased our ownership in Singapore Re from 28.2% equity interest to 94% for $103 million through completion of a public cash offer, we commenced consolidating the underlying assets, liabilities, and results of Singapore Re in the Fairfax Asia reporting segment. Finally, as I mentioned previously, we also anticipate consolidating Digit in the third quarter of 2021 following the receipt of the required approvals. Over the last few years, Fairfax has been quite active with the strategic monetization of investments. In the second quarter of 2021, we had three transactions to note.
The first was the investment in Mosaic Capital, where we entered into a privatization arrangement with a third-party purchaser, which will exchange our current holdings of our debentures and warrants and cash of approximately $11 million for newly issued Mosaic 25-year debentures. We'll also acquire a 20% interest in the purchaser for approximately $4 million. Upon closing, which is expected to occur in the third quarter of 2021, we anticipate to deconsolidate Mosaic Capital and commence applying the equity method of accounting to our interest position of the purchaser. The second transaction on June 11, 2021, which was with Recipe. They entered into an agreement to sell substantially all of the assets and liabilities comprising its Milestones restaurant brand.
Transaction will enable Recipe to focus on the larger brands that generate significant free cash flow and dominate their segment with younger brands that offer attractive opportunities for accelerated new restaurant growth. The assets and liabilities for both Mosaic and Milestones were recorded as assets held for sale at June 30th, 2021. Lastly, as I already noted in the net gains commentary, Fairfax India sold its equity interest in Privi. Various initiatives are underway as we continue to look for opportunities to monetize our investments. Turning to our liquidity position, we remain strong with our cash and investments at the holding company with being just under $1.5 billion at June 30th, 2021. The cash provides us with distinctive advantage that supports the decentralized structure and enables us to deploy our capital to the insurance companies efficiently.
We're not making any long-term investments with this cash other than to support our insurance and reinsurance operations. We continue to be prudent in terms of our deployment of capital strategy. To note, on June 29, 2021, we amended and restated our CAD 2 billion unsecured revolving credit facility with a syndicate of lenders, which extended our term from December 2022 to June 2026. Our total debt to total cap ratio, excluding our consolidated non-insurance companies, decreased to 28.4% at June 30, 2021 from 29.7% at December 31, 2020, primarily reflecting a significant increase in our shareholders' equity. We anticipate at the close of the RiverStone Barbados transaction that we would have paid off the facility completely, and our total debt to total cap ratio would have been at 27% if it had closed prior to June 30. In summary, it's been a very positive first half of 2021.
With the dynamics of the market remaining strong, our plan is to remain focused on organic growth, looking forward to strong insurance and reinsurance subsidiaries focused on the underwriting profitability and the prudent reserving, combined with our conservative investment managed philosophy, positions Fairfax to continue to deliver excellent long-term results. Before closing, I just wanted to touch on our commitment to ESG, which has been meaningful for Fairfax since we began. As you've seen earlier this year, we published our first ESG, or environmental social governance, report that highlights the importance and achievements we've made to date. We think about ESG as being truly committed to doing good by doing well. Recognizing that there's always room to grow and improve, we will continue to enhance our initiatives through 2021 and beyond. Thank you for your attention, and I'll turn it back over to Prem.
Okay. Thank you, Jen. We now look forward to answering your questions. Please give us your name and your company name and try to limit your questions to only one so that it's fair to all on the call. Okay, Catherine, we're ready for the questions.
Once again, if you would like to ask your question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. The first question is coming from Jeff Fenwick, Cormark Securities. Your line is open.
Hi. Good morning, everyone.
Hey, good morning.
Prem, hard markets continue to be very beneficial for Fairfax. I know you're making the most of it. Just wanted to touch on that this morning. The first one was with Brit. There's been a period of time here where they've been reorienting the business, and we're starting to see some very good results there and the benefit from their new Ki insurance platform. I noticed in your release there that you intend to sell 14% of Brit to OMERS in a transaction. Just wondering, what's the decision to do that? Is it to help bring in some additional capital to continue the growth, or why was that decision made?
Jeff, the reason for that is just what we announced some time back, and we're going to conclude that with the RiverStone Europe sale. Basically it gives us a lot of flexibility. We just thought we should have the flexibility, and we have a very good relationship with OMERS, and we can buy that back soon. Peter, you want to add to that?
Yeah, no, I think it all relates, Jeff, to the RiverStone Europe transaction as OMERS had an investment in there, and now they're moving some of those proceeds over to Brit. Like Prem said, to continue our long-term relationship with OMERS, which has worked out extremely well.
Okay. Thank you. That's helpful. Then I've just one more.
Sure.
With respect to Crum & Forster. Crum really saw a very significant step up in the reported premium growth in the quarter. It had been doing well, this quarter was up 30%, I believe, year-over-year in terms of net premium. What sort of triggered that acceleration at Crum? Is it just pushing on some new lines, and taking advantage of hard markets there? Any color you could offer on that might be helpful.
Peter?
Sure. Yeah. I think the biggest thing at Crum & Forster was they started writing premium again in their travel book. The second quarter of 2020, essentially their travel premium went to zero. Now they're starting to write that business again, and it's starting to grow. That was probably, Jeff, the biggest factor in the sort of the significant growth at Crum & Forster.
Okay. Well, I'll recue and let someone else ask a question. Thanks.
Terrific. Thank you, Jeff. Catherine, next question.
The next question is coming from Tom MacKinnon, BMO Capital. Tom, your line is open.
Yeah, thanks very much. Good morning, everyone.
Hey, good morning, Tom.
Yeah, with respect to Digit, is it still the intention that you expect $1.4 billion unrealized gain in the third quarter, and then another potential $400 million when the final approval to increase foreign ownership comes in? Is that still the thinking?
Tom, no, it's like $400 million, $425 million. That's what Jen talked about in the second quarter. The $1.4 billion will come after the regulatory approval and the approval by the government. It's more like the administrative rulings to go to 74%. It's already passed by legislation. Those two things have to be done, and either it gets done in the third quarter or the fourth quarters, whenever it gets done. The addition will be $1.4 billion.
Okay. The total addition will be $1.4 billion this year?
Yeah. The other way to look at it is we got $1.8 billion, and in total of which $400 million. It's mark-to-market accounting rules. We don't like reporting it till it's actually happened. The accounting rules are very specific. Because it's $200 million that came in, you have to show the increase in value of Digit. That's what we did.
Okay, it was CAD 1.8 billion sort of in total, and you booked CAD 425 million of that now, so there is another CAD 1.4 billion to come. Is that the way to think of that?
That's the way to look at it. Yep.
Okay, that's great. Just with respect to the two other transactions that will close soon, RiverStone and Brit. It looked like you booked some gain from the RiverStone transaction in the second quarter. Would we anticipate any sort of gain when that closes in August of 2021? What about Brit as well? Is there a potential gain when that 14% sale transaction is completed? Thanks.
Yeah. The RiverStone transaction will close, but there's a portfolio of approximately $1 billion, $1.2 billion, Jen, $1.3 billion that we will be buying back in the next two years, at the end of next year, so a year and a half. That's for our account and the fluctuations in that portfolio accrue to us. At the end of the first quarter, it was a small deficit. At the end of the second quarter, it was a positive number. You'll see that going up and down over the quarters till we actually take it. We can take it any time up to the end of December 2022.
On Brit, is there a gain there?
Brit, no. Brit, there's no changes there, Tom. It's fixed and we don't get any gain, we don't get any loss.
Okay, thanks for that.
Thank you, Tom. Next question, Catherine.
The next question is coming from Jaeme Gloyn, National Bank Financial. Your line is open.
Yeah, thanks. Good morning.
Hey, good morning, Jaeme.
Good. First question is on the reserve development in the quarter. I guess for the first half of the year, kind of coming in the 1%-ish range. I'm seeing a little bit more favorable reserve development from other insurance companies. I'm just wondering if you can give us a little bit more detail as to what you're seeing on that front, if you can have any comment and maybe around Odyssey, where we saw some unfavorable reserve development.
Jaeme, we've got Peter here, who's our Chief Operating Officer, and he used to be our Chief Actuary. Peter, your comment.
Sure. Yeah. I guess, Jaeme, I think what's distorting the numbers a little bit is we had approximately CAD 60 million in development on COVID-19 losses. That's sort of a one-off thing in our minds. Excluding the COVID-19 losses, I think we had favorable development of around CAD 90 million, which isn't that far off from the previous year. Generally speaking, it's the second half of the year where we do more thorough reserve reviews, specifically off third quarter reserves. That's when we'll make more significant adjustments. Our reserves continue to be extremely strong, and I think our companies are very conservative on the loss picks they're making on the current years. We would expect that we'd be building up some redundancy as we go through this strong pricing environment.
Our basic view, Jaeme, that we've said for many years now is that the past reserves can develop favorably or unfavorably, and we just want it to be developing favorably. The risk in the property casualty business, and we've had favorable development, I think, for more than a decade now, and perhaps even longer than that. That's a very important requisite in the property casualty business.
Okay, understood. On those COVID loss developments, can you describe what it was that was driving that? Is that anything related to BI? A little bit more color on those COVID reserve developments.
Sure thing. Peter?
Yeah, really, it relates to on our reinsurance business, primarily at Allied and Odyssey. It's non-U.S., so it's in Europe where there's still uncertainty around what's covered, what's not covered. Is it one event, many events? It's really just IBNR that's still being put up on the reinsurance books, mostly in Europe.
Okay, and related to BI, I guess.
Related to BI and some of the BI issues. You might remember the U.K. ruling came out late last year, and that's still filtering through the system.
Okay. Good. Understood on that one. My second question or theme would be on the share buybacks. Stock trading was fairly low. The cash position is building. I saw some buybacks for treasury. Just can you update your comments and views and thoughts on share buybacks and, as it relates to, I guess, the swap that's still in place?
Yeah. The swap as Jen mentioned, we agree with you, the shares are undervalued. In terms of buybacks, we always balance that with being financially sound. We've got a hard market. We're expanding. We have to be cognizant of that. We take all that into account, Jaeme, and then react accordingly.
Okay. I'll recue.
Thank you, Jaeme. Next question, Catherine.
The next question is coming from Junior Roth, Private Investor. Your line is open.
Good morning. Congratulations on a wonderful quarter. For the total return swaps, when are they expiring?
They can be extended, Peter. They don't expire on anytime. We can continue to extend them as we like, Junior.
Okay, thanks. In terms of the monetization of the investments, are you guys looking to do any other big monetization in 2021, or is that just ongoing process?
It's ongoing. Of course, these are things that are in the marketplace, so we can't talk about them till we actually have done it. Yeah, no, as Jen mentioned, we continue the process.
Okay. Thanks a lot.
Thank you, Junior. Next question, Catherine.
The next question is coming from Jack Grant of Water Securities. Your line is open.
Good morning. Congratulations on a great job you've been doing. Prem, much like Berkshire Hathaway has run into being asked about succession plans in the future, can you share anything on that front in terms of what the future holds when maybe you retire or aren't available to run the show there at Fairfax? Thank you.
That's a very good question, Jack. It's a very important question. It's a question that we focus on, of course, all the time. Our directors focus on it, I focus on it, because we try to build our company over the long term. If something happens to me today, the directors know exactly what to do. Sixty Two, the controlling company, knows exactly what to do. Of course, very much focused on what you say. All our companies have succession plans right through the organization. You might have seen over the years, it's internal succession. Always be internal succession. It'll be internal succession for each of our companies, and it'll be internal succession for me. We have always reviewed it and feel very comfortable that we've got the right people to take over. Good question, Jack. Thank you.
Good question, Jack. Thank you.
Okay.
Catherine, the next question, please.
The next question is coming from Mikhail Abasolo from Solo Capital Management. Your line is open.
Very much for taking my questions. I have two, if I may. The first one is on the valuation of Digit. If I've understood correctly, you value as a combination of a DCF and based on the transaction that the company is doing with the private equity firms. If I understand correctly, the revaluation of Digit, despite not being totally dependent on the private equity people, has been performed following the investment by the private equity people. My question would be, if that transaction finally doesn't come to fruition, and regardless of any penalties from the investors or anything like that, would you revert back to the old valuation you had in Digit? That's my first one. The second one, if I may, has to do with the reconciliation on page 73 of the report.
I've looked at it, and I see that for the non-insurance associates that are not listed, the reconciliation is not necessary because the dollar figures coincide. That's not the case with the restaurants and other Fairfax India and Thomas Cook India. If you could help me bridge that gap or understand why the figures are different and how to go from one to the other roughly, that would be of incredible help. Thank you very much.
Okay. Thank you for both questions. The first one on Digit, when $200 million comes out at a three and a half billion dollar market capitalization, very good investors, a very significant market cap on a company that's growing significantly but is running at the last number we gave you all was about $450 million of revenue. Growing at a huge rate in India. India is itself growing. The market cap is very significant. The three and a half billion US dollar results in a $1.8 billion gain. The question is, how much do you recognize at the second quarter, and how much do you recognize in the third, whenever those two things happen that I talked to you about?
Jen explained that using models, we figured it was CAD 400 odd million, CAD 425 million. That's just a judgment call. The CAD 1.8 billion will be the number at the end of the day. That's very subjective because it's only CAD 200 million that's gone in on a CAD 3.5 billion market cap. We think Digit is going to grow very significantly. We've got a great guy in Kamesh Goyal who's building the company. There's no risk of that number being turned back if we don't get regulatory approval or whatever, because these are done deals. That CAD 200 million has been signed, sealed, and delivered. There's no risk that they can back out. It's only regulatory approval right now and the 74% going through.
On your second question, why don't I pass it to Jen?
I think if you wanted the additional details, you're more than welcome to call after. High-level, I think the easiest answer to explain it would be your biggest driver is for Fairfax India's portfolio on Note 6, where we show the total carrying value versus fair value. You have Kempegowda International Airport in there, which is the way the accounting standard works is at Fairfax India's carrying value, and Fairfax only has a 28% equity interest in Fairfax India. When you actually look to the back of page 73, we're then taking only our 28% interest. That would be your largest disconnect on how we look at it, because Note 6 is almost like a gross-up basis. In the back is what our attributable book value per share would be accretive for Fairfax India.
If you want more details, I can walk you through it offline.
Jen, we talk about that in our annual report, and we explain all of that. Peter?
Yeah. No, that might be a good place to look as well. On page 10 of the annual report, we have a similar table, and we provide the reconciliation.
Thank you very much for your question. Catherine, next question, please.
It's page 10, right? Yes.
Yeah, page 10. Thank you.
The next question is coming from Alan Parsow, Elkhorn Partners. Your line is open.
Hey, Prem. Great quarter.
Good morning, Alan.
Hi. I think I heard this right. I'm on a trip, so I'm on a mobile, but I think I heard that when you talked about the unrealized and the equity portfolio, you mentioned in the second quarter that there were significant gains in BlackBerry and unrealized in both the debentures and the common.
Right. Yes.
Does that infer, which I think it does, but I don't know, does that infer that none of the BlackBerry was sold in the second quarter?
Yes, that's exactly right, Alan. None of the BlackBerry was sold because it's all unrealized. Yep.
Up to this point, the company hasn't been able to take advantage of, [for term, the meme] or the other significant or outsized gains and, well, fluctuations, let's just say.
Yeah. No, I think that's right. We haven't been able to take advantage of it. We're insiders. We've got restrictions, and we talked about that last quarter, too. Of course, we are very supportive of John Chen and all the good things that he's doing with BlackBerry.
Right. I thought, if I heard you correctly after the first quarter call, that any restrictions disappeared, or is this after the first quarter? Does that mean that this company is permanently on the restriction list of-
That's a good question, Alan. It's not permanently, but when you're on the board and we've got the significant interest that we have, there are times, quiet periods, and restrictions that apply to significant shareholders. You're not permanently restricted, no.
Okay, fine. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Alan. Can we have the next question, Catherine?
Yes. The next question is coming from Jaeme Gloyn of National Bank Financial. Your line is open.
Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. I was going to follow up on the performance of non-insurance subs. Looks like it's a little bit better in Q2, and hoping you can give us some additional color and commentary on how the non-insurance subs, retail restaurants, Thomas Cook, are performing early into Q3, and particular in Canada, where we're much more open this month than we have been.
Jaeme, the restaurants, you'll see their results. Their results haven't come out, I think, for Recipe. They'll come out, they're doing much better. Of course, Ontario's just opened for indoor dining. For the most of the year, the restaurants had a very difficult time in terms of being closed. If you see what's happened in the U.S., once restaurants were open, they've gone through 2019 levels. We expect the restaurants will bounce back significantly. Fairfax India had Thomas Cook India. Its business went to zero. No travel to speak of. That was difficult. This pandemic, for many of our investments, was difficult. I'm exaggerating to make the point, that's all in the past. It's on its way back, these are good companies, good management, we see, over the long term, good returns from them.
Yeah. I was also just going to ask in terms of the revenue side looks like it's going to be good. Do you have any comments on the labor side of it or expense side of it as you're reopening? Are we going to see that revenue uptick flow to the bottom line in those.
Yeah, Jaeme. All of those things, including the restaurants, we think the revenues will be through 2019 levels once we back up. Unfortunately, lots of smaller restaurants have gone out of business. If you want to go out dining, the big restaurant chains are where the action's going to be. Our Recipe expects in the years to come to do well.
Okay. Thanks.
Thank you, Jaeme. Any more questions, Catherine?
We have no further questions at this time.
Okay. If there are no further questions, thank you all for joining us on this call, and thank you, Catherine, for hosting it. Thank you. Till our next call. Thank you very much.
This will conclude today's conference. All parties may disconnect at this time.