Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest has spent more than a decade feeding China’s steel-making boom – now he’s leveraging his ties there to source medical supplies for the battle against the coronavirus Down Under.
Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation has pledged A$160-million to source equipment from China, including 33 ventilators, more than one-million face masks and hundreds of thousands of gloves, nasal swabs and coveralls.
A first aircraft loaded with the products is scheduled to leave Shanghai on Wednesday bound for Perth and the logistics effort is being supported by Fortescue Metals Group, the iron-ore supplier founded by Forrest in 2003, which wins more than 90% of revenue from China and shipped its first cargo in 2008.