In the Forrest family empire, it’s all a matter of trust
It was April last year when the Forrest family made a startling disclosure.
In filings to the corporate regulator, numerous Forrest empire companies – spanning wind generation to nickel mining, farming and property development – said they had misinterpreted the law.
Andrew and Nicola Forrest with Minderoo boss John Hartman on the banks of the Swan River in Perth.
Some even seemed unsure about who owned them.
“The company does not have an ultimate holding company,” read one document, filed by the renewable power giant Squadron Energy to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
In a separate filing, the nickel acquisition vehicle Wyloo Consolidated Investments told ASIC that official records of its ultimate holding company were incorrect.
“The company had previously considered that the ultimate holding company was determined based on the legal ownership of shares in a subsidiary and did not consider that the Act would treat what would otherwise be an ultimate holding company as not actually holding those shares,” said Wyloo Consolidated Investments in a filing made on the same day as Squadron’s.
The family fortune – valued at $33.3 billion by the Financial Review Rich List – is anchored by its controlling stake in the iron ore miner founded by Andrew Forrest: Fortescue Metals Group.
But, in the past few years, the portfolio has diversified. There are stakes in shipbuilder Austal, worth $200 million, and Australian Agricultural Company, worth $158 million.
Then there’s Wyloo Consolidated Investments, which this month took control of nickel miner Mincor Resources in a $760 million deal, and Squadron Energy, which this year spent close to $4 billion on the wind farms of CWP Renewables.
Most roads in the Forrest
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