SYDNEY: Australian mining billionaire Gina Rinehart, the country’s richest person, said she has sold her stake of nearly 15 per cent in newspaper publisher Fairfax Media Limited.
Rinehart sold her 14.99 percent stake in Fairfax Media Limited at 87 Australian cents (68 cents) per share, without stating where it got the information. At that price, the mining magnate’s interest in Fairfax was worth A$306 million.
John Klepec, chief development officer of Rinehart’s closely held investment company, Hancock Prospecting Private Limited, said Fairfax Media does not have a workable plan to revitalize the company and address declining business and circulation numbers.
Rinehart first acquired Fairfax stock in 2010, and built up a stake as big as 19 per cent, becoming the company’s largest shareholder by 2012. In June of that year, the publisher’s chairman Roger Corbett rejected Rinehart’s request for a seat on the board.
The stock closed 4.4 per cent higher in Sydney to close at 96 Australian cents, its highest level since last June.
Rinehart’s wealth has fallen by $1.6 billion in the past three months as the drop in iron ore prices has hurt the value of her mining interests. Hancock is building an $8 billion iron ore mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
