Andrew Forrest’s burgoning wealth rooted in riches of iron ore

Mining is still the core of his $10bn fortune, but Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest is branching out.

Fortescue Minerals founder Andrew Forrest. Picture: Britta Campion

Billionaire Andrew Forrest has picked another stock winner, but this time it is not in his favoured mining sector.

Forrest has emerged as the biggest shareholder in biotech play Invex Therapeutics, which listed on the ASX on Friday and surged in value during that day’s trade.

Invex shares ended the day at $1.07, up 169 per cent from the 40c issue price. The shares rose again yesterday in early trading, hit a high of $1.16 before lunchtime only to then fall back to about 95c.

But at that price, Forrest — who holds about 9.09 per cent of Invex’s stock via his Minderoo Group — and other shareholders have already doubled their money on a company that raised $12 million for its initial public offering and is aiming to repurpose a diabetes drug to treat some neurological conditions.

Invex is only the latest in a line of big wins for Forrest this year, which also means his ­philanthropic endeavours have benefited ­immensely.

Forrest, the biggest shareholder in and chairman of iron-ore force Fortescue Metals Group, has seen his wealth burst through the $10 billion mark in the past month as commodity prices soar.

It means he is one of at least six Australians with wealth exceeding $10bn, along with cardboard box and recycling magnate Anthony Pratt and his family, property tycoon Harry Triguboff, mining billionaire Gina Rinehart and Atlassian software co-founders Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes — who are both now worth more than $12.6bn.

FMG shares alone are up about 124 per cent since January 1, meaning Forrest has increased his paper wealth by more than $5bn to date. His wealth has climbed by at least $3bn since the end of March.

Forrest’s wealth was then recorded at $7.34bn on The List — Australia’s Richest 250, published by The Australian.

He has since been paid about $654m in dividends by FMG, which announced a special 60c per share fully franked dividend in mid-May on the eve of the federal election, after receiving about $327m in dividends in February.

Forrest then announced his Minderoo Foundation — which supports a range of interests that include bringing an end to global poverty, closing the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, eliminating cancer and early smoking, as well as helping clean up oceans — would receive another $655m in donations from him and wife Nicola.

That announcement brought the total donated by Forrest to charity to $1.5bn.

While the bulk of his wealth is found in Fortescue stock, Forrest has other share interest sitting in his portfolio alongside FMG and Invex.

He is a large shareholder in explorer Poseidon Nickel, which has projects in Western Australia and has attracted takeover attention from overseas investors. Poseidon shares are down 14 per cent since January 1.

Forrest also has shares in another microcap in Impact Minerals, which has fallen 40 per cent this year.

Impact has tenements that include gold and silver base-metals projects in NSW and nickel projects in WA.

He has had a better time of it with his shares in Vimy Resources, which has uranium projects in WA and the Northern Territory. Vimy investors also include other members of The List in fund manager David Paradice, now based in Sydney after living in Denver, Colorado, for a few years, and Corporate Travel Management founder Jamie Pherous.

Vimy shares have risen about 19 per cent this year, but are about half of their value of 12 months ago.

Then there is Forrest’s extensive and diverse collection of property assets.

As reported by The Weekend Australian at the weekend, he has been quietly buying up commercial property in Perth and across WA at a rapid rate, including the Old Swan Brewery building on the Swan River and the Indiana Tea House at Cottesloe Beach, where he plans a project including restaurants, bars and beachfront swimming pools.

There is also a caravan park at Exmouth near the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef, where Forrest is planning an eco-resort, and the Spicers Paper site in Fremantle, where he would like to build a 130-room hotel.

Earlier this year, Minderoo Group also emerged as the biggest investor in a $450m transport logistics park near Perth Airport, taking a 50 per cent stake in the development — its first foray into industrial property.

Minderoo’s portfolio includes a planned oyster farm in WA’s north and extensive agribusiness interests, including pastoral operations in WA’s north, where it also has an apartment block in Karratha and the Harvey Beef abattoir in the state’s southwest.