Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest ups stake in Fortescue Metals Group
The purchase takes Twiggy’s stake in Fortescue to 36 per cent, from 30 per cent previously.
Fortescue founder and chair Andrew Forrest has splurged $243m to lift his stake in the miner to roughly 36 per cent, just a week after the group delivered a bumper $US2.5bn ($3.7bn) half-year profit.
In a filing to the market on Friday, Fortescue said the mining magnate had bought 22,112,053 shares in the miner on market between February 20 and 27, at a total cost of $242.86m - at an average price of $10.98 apiece.
That’s just a slice of Mr Forrest’s $828m dividend cheque to be paid on April 6 after Fortescue declared a 76c a share interim payout on January 19, on the back of record high iron ore prices and strong export volumes over the December half.
Mr Forrest’s purchase takes his stake in the Perth-based miner to 36 per cent, from 30 per cent previously, through his personal holdings and his investment arm Minderoo Group.
A rally in the shares early this year, to the record of $12.69 on January 22, added at least $1bn to Mr Forrest’s paper wealth in just three weeks, pushing it past the $13bn mark.
But those lofty trading levels have been smashed as the coronavirus outbreak fuels concerns around demand for the steelmaking metal.
Fortescue shares finished Friday’s session down 6.4 per cent at $10.08 apiece, marking a 10 per cent drop over the past week and a 22 per cent drop from January’s record high.
In the past week, iron ore futures on the Chinese market have slipped for five sessions, the longest losing streak since September, amid virus concerns and a likely uptick in supply after weather disruptions in WA and Brazil.
In a statement on Friday, Mr Forrest cited the miner’s high performance and work to reduce its climate impact as reasons for his share purchase.
“Disciplined capital management demonstrated” had led to “a combination rare in all industries, but particularly the resources sector, of high capital and high yield growth,” he said.
Handing down its half-year result last week, the miner reported $US3.3bn in cash was set to be spent on growth projects in iron ore over the next two years, as well as potential diversification beyond its core commodity.
Mr Forrest added that his purchase also reflected the miner’s “commitment to community and environmental responsibility”.
The last time he bought shares on-market was in November 2018, when he bought $23.2m worth at an average price of $3.94.
