Andrew and Nicola Forrest up the anti on giving.Credit:Kate Geraghty
He is transferring one fifth,or $5 billion,of his private company Tattarang’s shares in iron ore giant Fortescue Metal Group to Forrest’s charitable trust Minderoo.
In doing so,he and his wife,Nicola,have effectively created their own Future Fund,which will generate billions of dollars to be directed towards the couple’s particular causes.
And the beauty of it is that it appears to be both tax effective and allows the billionaire to retain the same degree of control over Fortescue,given Andrew and Nicola Forrest founded and sit on the board of the Minderoo.
Already Forrest has declared that Minderoo won’t be selling any of its newly endowed stake in Fortescue,thus avoiding any possibility of an overhang in the market for Fortescue shares which would have put pressure on the share price.
It appears to be both tax effective and allows the billionaire to retain the same degree of control over Fortescue.
The charitable trust set up by Forrest and his wife will become the fourth-largest shareholder in Fortescue and could ultimately become its largest shareholder.
The rule of thumb for donations such as those announced by Forrest is that the gift will be personally tax-deductible for Andrew and Nicola Forrest,who each own 50 per cent of Tattarang – the entity from which the Fortescue shares were transferred.