Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. announced Friday that subsidiary Northbridge Financial Corp. has filed a prospectus for a Canadian initial public offering.

Fairfax did not disclose how much it was seeking to raise from the IPO Northbridge, which had total assets of $3.26 billion at the end of 2002.

Upon completion of the offering, Northbridge will be the holding company for Lombard, Commonwealth, Markel and Federated, Fairfax’s Canadian insurance company subsidiaries, which provide property and casualty insurance products primarily in the Canadian market, and will be one of the three largest writers of commercial insurance in Canada, based on gross premiums written.

Byron Messier, with 36 years of insurance industry experience, most recently as president of Lombard, will be Northbridge’s CEO.

Fairfax said it will continue to maintain control of the Northbridge after the offering.

The company said it believes the offering will allow its Canadian subsidiaries to take advantage of the growth opportunities available to them in the improving Canadian insurance marketplace, thereby realizing benefits similar to those which accrued to Fairfax’s OdysseyRe subsidiary following its IPO in 2001.

The proposed offering will be jointly led by BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. and Scotia Capital Inc.