Andrew Forrest’s Minderoo fights for supplies against ‘suitcases of cash’

Medical supplies in China are being snapped up by representatives of other nations carrying suitcases of cash.

Supplies for Minderoo are unloaded at Perth Airport. Picture: AAP

Medical supplies and PPE potentially bound for Australia are being snapped up by representatives of other nations carrying suitcases of cash, as countries around the world resort to increasingly aggressive tactics to secure scarce pieces of medical equipment.

Iron ore billionaire Andrew Forrest, whose charitable foundation, Minderoo, is effectively acting as the commonwealth’s procurement agent in China, said the methods used by other countries were as cutthroat as anything he had seen in his business career.

Minderoo’s first consignment arrived from China on Thursday and another two shipments arrived at the weekend. The third plane landed in Perth on Sunday morning carrying 500,000 masks, 200,000 medical-grade gloves and 37,000 medical coveralls.

Dr Forrest — who last year completed his PhD in marine science — told The Australian there had been many instances in the past 10 days when he felt the operation could fall over as other countries sought to outbid on supplies.

“It makes the extreme pressure and the extreme resistance we received from our dear friends, now departed thank goodness, who were running BHP and Rio Tinto at the time look like soft-hearted gentlemen compared to the competitiveness right now from other nation-states,” he said.

In one instance, the deposit Minderoo had already paid to secure an order was returned. The vendor told Minderoo another group had arrived at the factory carrying vast sums of cash and bought on the spot not only Minderoo’s consignment but the factory’s entire production capacity for the next month.

Increasingly, those men with suitcases full of cash are showing up at factories across China, looking to obtain the masks, gowns and ventilators being sought around the world in response to the coronavirus pandemic. As the first Minderoo consignment was making its way to Australia, US officials reportedly intervened on the tarmac of a Chinese airport and diverted a planeload of masks bound for France to the US after offering to pay three times the price in cash.

Ansell chief executive Magnus Nicolin, meanwhile, has detailed what he said was a “Wild West” mentality in Europe over medical equipment, including one incident where a shipment of masks from China to Italy was stopped and seized at the Czech border.

Minderoo’s Steve Burnell has for the past two weeks been overseeing the audacious plan to source vast volumes of medical supplies and personal protective equipment from across China.

Early each morning, there is a conference call between the Minderoo team and government officials to convey the latest equipment and PPE priorities across the country. Minderoo has stepped in where governments cannot, committing to deals in time frames that would not work in the bureaucracy.

Dr Forrest knows some goods will not be up to scratch — Minderoo is carrying the risk, and will be reimbursed only for gear that meets Australian standards. The first shipment has been approved by health authorities, and he said he had a plan if any equipment fell short of agreed standards.

“What the Chinese suppliers know about Fortescue and Minderoo is that we will send those goods back on the next plane we charter, we will put them on a truck and drop them on the doorstep of the headquarters,” he said.

Minderoo has one key tool at its disposal: a letter from China’s ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, describing the foundation as a friend of China.