how much has twiggy lost ........, page-17

Frank Lowy tops rich list as crisis knocks Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest off perch

* Font Size: Decrease Increase
* Print Page: Print

Teresa Ooi | October 03, 2008

IN the end, it was a short-lived reign. Just as well, then, that Andrew Forrest professed not to care for the title of Australia's richest man.

Collapsing share markets have dramatically reshaped the fortunes of the nation's multi-billionaires in recent months, stripping Mr Forrest of the crown and elevating perennial rich list bridesmaid Frank Lowy to the top of the rankings for the first time.

According to calculations by The Australian, based on the Rich 200 List compiled by BRW magazine each year, Mr Forrest's fortune has tumbled from $9.4billion when the list was released in May to just $4.9 billion yesterday as his iron ore company, Fortescue Metals Group, became a victim of the volatile markets. James Packer, No3 in May, has fared little better, with the value of his family's stakes in casinos group Crown and media holding company Consolidated Media falling heavily. With ConsMedia hitting a record low yesterday, his fortune was estimated at $5.2billion, down sharply from $6.1billion. Mr Forrest's tumble, however, has at least allowed Mr Packer to regain second spot on the wealth ladder.

As investors have fled to stocks considered safe havens from the financial storm, shares in Mr Lowy's Westfield property group have actually been ticking higher in recent weeks, leaving his fortune just $500 million poorer since May at $5.8 billion.

For two decades, Mr Lowy has languished behind a Packer - James or his late father, Kerry - on the list of the nation's wealthiest individuals. Just when the top spot appeared within his reach, Mr Forrest, the upstart iron ore miner from Western Australia, stole the crown this year with a late surge as shares in Fortescue took off.

In late June, Fortescue shares spiked at $13.15, valuing Mr Forrest's stake at more than $13billion. It's been downhill since, with the stock slumping 9 per cent yesterday to $4.85 on concerns about the company's ability to fund expansion and a bearish report from analysts at JPMorgan Chase, who almost halved their price target to $5.41.

The Perth billionaire, known to close fiends such as Mr Packer as "Twiggy", is not alone in losing on the stock market. More than $200 billion has been wiped off the value of Australian shares since May as the global credit crisis took hold. But for every $100 lost by Australians on the market in that time, about $2 has belonged to Mr Forrest.

The travails of fellow rich-listers Richard Pratt, Gina Rinehart and Harry Triguboff are harder to define because their wealth is tied up in private companies. But Kerry Stokes, No8 on the list in May with $2.76billion, has certainly been hurt by the fall in the value of his stake in the Seven Network.

Seven, whose shares hit a three-year low this week, has taken a bath on its own portfolio.

One analyst said Mr Forrest's hopes of regaining the crown would depend on whether Fortescue hit its production targets and whether iron ore prices would recover from current lows.

"Everyone's fortune has been trimmed, some more than others, depending on whether they are exposed to the debt market," he said.

Earlier this year, Mr Forrest told The Weekend Australian that being Australia's richest man was an "incredibly uninteresting title". Yesterday, he was somewhere between China and the Sabine hills outside Rome, where his good friend Michael Masterman, a former colleague at Anaconda Nickel, was due to get married on the weekend.

"Andrew Forrest has never cared much to be labelled as Australia's richest man," his spokesman said yesterday. "He is still worth about $5billion."