Forrest ups FMG stake with $23m buy

Andrew Forrest has made a $23 million share purchase in Fortescue Metals Group, confirming his position at the top of the Business News directors' shareholdings list.

Mr Forrest, who founded and chairs Fortescue, bought 5.8 million shares between November 15 and 21 on-market at an average price of about $3.97 each.

The acquisition takes his overall stake in the iron ore miner to about 1.06 billion shares, or 34 per cent.

The recent purchase was slightly higher than a $20 million stake Mr Forrest bought in August 2012.

It also came less than a month after the founder acquired $15 million worth of Fortescue shares.

Mr Forrest is the top-ranked person on Business News’ director shareholdings list, with his holdings worth more than $4 billion.

He sits ahead of second-placed Kerry Stokes, whose shareholdings are worth $3.6 billion.