Forrest topples Murdoch and Packer

Spare a dime? ... Australia`s richest executive Andrew Forrest

AUSTRALIA`S resources boom has pushed mining boss Andrew Forrest ahead of Rupert Murdoch and James Packer to the top spot on a list of the nation`s wealthiest executives.

However, many of the richest managers are not as wealthy as they used to be because the fall in the sharemarket has reduced the value of their equity holdings.

BRW magazine today released its list of "executive rich``, which is drawn from Australia`s top 500 public companies and ranks the 200 wealthiest managers by the value of their shareholdings.

Mr Forrest, who is the founder and chief executive of iron ore company Fortescue Metals Group, has a shareholding in Fortescue of $8.4 billion.

The value of Mr Forrest`s stake soared by $6.5 billion over the past year, in line with Fortescue`s rocketing share price.

BRW said Mr Forrest`s shares were worth just $36 million four years ago.

Fortescue is scheduled to make its first shipment from its Pilbara iron ore and infrastructure project in mid-May.

The global demand for minerals and oil has put 71 resources executives on the BRW list compared with 39 on last year`s inaugural list.

Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corporation (parent company of News Limited, which is the publisher of NEWS.com.au), is second on the BRW list, with $7.9 billion worth of shares in the media group. Last year, Mr Murdoch was in top spot with a shareholding worth $11.5 billion.

James Packer takes third place, with shares worth $3.4 billion in gaming firm Crown and press group Consolidated Media Holdings. Last year, Mr Packer was in second place, with shares worth $4.9 billion.

Frank Lowy, the co-founder of shopping centre developer Westfield Group, is fourth with $2.8 billion.

The chief executive of building supplies and services provider Reece Australia, Alan Wilson, is fifth with $1.5 billion.

BRW said many executives had experienced dramatic falls in the share prices of their companies over the past year.

The combined wealth of the top 200 executives slumped by $2.6 billion to $44 billion.

The average shareholder wealth for the executives was $220 million - down from $231.2 million last year.

BRW said that average shareholder wealth would have fallen by more - to $179.7 million - if Mr Forrest was not included.

While more resources managers joined the list of executive rich, there were fewer from the financial services sector, with only 27 executives represented compared with 39 last year.

High-profile managers that fell off the list included former Allco Finance Group executive chairman David Coe who resigned, and the founder of childcare group ABC Learning Centres, Eddy Groves, whose wealth fell as a result of sales of his shares and a fall in his company`s share price.

The average annual remuneration for the executives on the list was $1.63 million.

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