Buffett's Home Capital Lifeline Lifts All Mortgage-Lender Boats

(Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett’s lifeline to Home Capital Group Inc. is boosting shares of alternative lenders and banks across Canada.

The S&P/TSX financials index gained as much as 0.9 percent in Toronto on Thursday, with some lenders hitting their highest levels since before the Home Capital downturn intensified April 19. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. on Wednesday agreed to buy a 38 percent stake and provide a C$2 billion ($1.5 billion) credit line to backstop the embattled Toronto-based lender.

Mortgage insurer Genworth MI Canada Inc. added as much as 14.4 percent, its biggest intraday gain ever, and touched C$38.07, the highest since March 16. First National Financial Corp. rose as much as 4.7 percent to C$27.46, the highest since March 3. Street Capital Group Inc. and Equitable Group Inc. rose as much as 12 percent.

Rising financial shares, which account for some 34 percent of the S&P/TSX Composite Index, pushed the benchmark gauge up 0.8 percent.

"By injecting confidence in Home Capital, you’re effectively spreading around confidence virtually everywhere," said Ross Healy, a Home Capital shareholder and chairman of Toronto-based Strategic Analysis Corp. "It’s in Buffett’s best interest to make sure the earnings bounce back and bounce back quickly."

Fears that a run on deposits at Home Capital would spread to the broader financial sector had weighed on Canadian stocks, with the financials index losing 3.9 percent from April 19, when regulators first made public the allegations, to its bottom on May 17.

This, combined with broader fears about overheating housing markets in Toronto and Vancouver, pressured bank stocks, said Michael Sprung, president of Toronto-based Sprung Investment Management, another Home Capital shareholder.

"I don’t think that’s gone away yet but I do think this puts a vote of confidence in for the Canadian financial system, a fairly considerable vote of confidence," Sprung said in a phone interview. "I think the banks have pulled back to the point where they are looking attractive."

To contact the reporter on this story: Kristine Owram in Toronto at kowram@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Arie Shapira at ashapira3@bloomberg.net, Jeanette Rodrigues, Steven Frank

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