Article by Brooke Rolfe courtesy of the Toowoomba Chronicle.
Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, has further expanded her empire with the acquisition of a 14-storey office building in Queensland.
Ms Rinehart, a multibillionaire mining magnate, secured the Brisbane block at 70 Eagle Street for more than $100 million, the Courier Mail reported.
The purchase, from US funds group Pembroke, adds to her earlier Queensland investments including residential blocks in Brisbane and Noosa.
The complex has retail spaces on its ground level, a private three-level basement car park and about 11,000 sqm of office space.
Currently super fund Q Super occupies the building but will move out.
The block may also eventually serve as office space for some of Ms Rinehart’s own operations.
“A building refurbishment program is planned, which will reposition the building and ensure it is a highly attractive location for businesses and visitors,” her company Hancock Prospecting said in a statement.
“The acquisition of this property by Hancock is a continuation of its investment in Queensland, where Hancock has extensive investments in energy via Senex, its joint venture with POSCO, along with extensive agricultural operations and a growing Brisbane office.”
The complex last traded in 2014 for slightly above what Ms Rinehart paid.
The sale was processed by Knight Frank pitted the property as a rare chance to buy on Brisbane’s sought after Eagle Street.
Ms Rinehart made headlines in December when she awarded 10 staff members a $100,000 Christmas bonus each.
The month prior, Ms Rinehart pulled in a staggering $2.3 billion after Roy Hill, owned by Hancock Prospecting, generated a profit of $3.3 billion in the past 12 months, up until July last year.
Despite an impressive income, the figure represented a drop of 28 per cent for Hancock Prospecting compared to the previous year, due to low prices for iron ore amid shortages and trade wars with China.
Hancock owns a majority stake in the mine, at 70 per cent, followed by Marubeni Corporation at 15 per cent, then POSCO with a 12.5 per cent share and China Steel Corporation at just 2.5 per cent.
With the massive profit also came an eye-watering amount of necessary payments, with Roy Hill forking out $761 million in State Royalties and Native Title royalties and $2.1 billion on tax.
The company said it spent a further $2.3 billion to pay contractors for their work.
Mrs Rinehart thanked Roy Hill employees for “another great year” and said Australia benefited as a whole when her company did so well.
The mining magnate is already Australia’s richest person with a net worth of $34 billion, according to the AFR’s most recent rich list.
