Andrew Forrest contracted the potentially deadly COVID-19 virus while globe-hopping in pursuit of renewable energy projects for his Fortescue Metals Group and spent several days in a Swiss hospital receiving high-level care.

Australia’s richest man revealed his ordeal in an exclusive interview with The Australian Financial Review, but said he did not regret travelling the world through the height of the pandemic in a bid to secure key hydro and other renewable energy assets for Fortescue.