A case of who lost least

THE stock market provides a very public barometer of the diminished wealth of many Australians over the past year. Estimating private fortunes is much more difficult, but a few key trends emerge.

Mining, property and construction are the common links for most of Western Australia's super rich, as ranked by magazines Forbes Asia and BRW.

Those directly exposed to the mining boom, such as iron ore heiress Gina Rinehart and siblings Angela Bennett and Michael Wright, enjoyed the biggest surge in estimated wealth and have since experienced the biggest slide.

In contrast, prudent investors in blue chip properties, such as Stan Perron, appear to have suffered relatively little damage from the global financial crisis.

Forbes Asia, which published its rich list this month, ranks Fortescue Metals Group chief executive Andrew Forrest as WA's richest person, with an estimated worth of $2.2 billion (see story previous page).

He is followed by Ms Rinehart, whose estimated $2 billion fortune comes mainly from the iron ore royalties her late father Lang Hancock negotiated with Rio Tinto subsidiary Hamersley Iron in the 1960s.

Her company, Hancock Prospecting, has more recently developed the Hope Downs iron ore mine in joint venture with Rio, providing regular cash flow for further possible developments.

These include the Alpha coal project in Queensland and the Roy Hill iron ore mine in the Pilbara, both under evaluation.

Mr Perron is another, smaller beneficiary of Mr Hancock's iron ore royalties deal, after backing Mr Hancock and his business partner, the late Peter Wright, during the 1960s.

However most of Mr Perron's wealth comes from his Toyota dealership and a national portfolio of shopping centres and other cash-generating properties.

Last May, BRW estimated his net worth at $1.6 billion; this month, Forbes estimated he was worth $1.3 billion, one of the smallest reductions on its list.

Ralph Sarich is also known for being a cautious, property-focused investor.

After making his original fortune as the founder of engine technology company Orbital Corporation, the low profile Mr Sarich has focused on property investment and development through his family company, Cape Bouvard Investments.

He famously sold an estimated $500 million of commercial office properties to General Electric in late 2007, perhaps missing the top of the boom but also missing the later slide in property values.

Third on the Forbes list is Kerry Stokes, best known as chairman of the Seven Network and West Australian Newspapers, both of which have tumbled in value.

His major private business, WesTrac, which owns the Caterpillar heavy equipment franchise in WA, NSW and northern China, would also undoubtedly have fallen in value, after being knocked by the slowdown in mining and construction projects.

Len Buckeridge's BGC Group would have been adversely affected by both the slowdown in housing construction and the weakness in mining and construction activity.

BGC Contracting had contracts at several mines that have either scaled down operations or closed, with the most recent closure being BHP Billiton's Rockies Reward nickel mine earlier this month.

BGC will be looking to offset the mining slump by cranking up its building and construction activities, for everyone from first home buyers to government schools.