Fortescue Metals Group

In 2003, the global iron ore industry was dominated by a few major players. That year, Australian businessman Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest founded Fortescue Metals Group with a bold vision: to become a new force in the market. The company's strategy hinged on tapping into the vast, undeveloped iron ore deposits of Western Australia's Pilbara region to meet soaring demand from China. A year later, Fortescue made a massive discovery of 2.4 billion tons of iron ore. However, the resource was in a remote area with no infrastructure. The company needed to build hundreds of kilometers of railway and a new port facility just to get the ore to market. To finance this ambitious plan, Fortescue secured a monumental $3.7 billion in funding in 2006, a deal that was the largest corporate bond transaction in the Southern Hemisphere's history at the time. This capital allowed construction to begin, and by May 2008, the first shipment of iron ore was on its way to China. Fortescue's journey included an IPO, listing on the Australian Securities Exchange after Forrest took control of a predecessor company, Allied Mining and Processing, in 2003. The company grew rapidly, establishing major mining hubs and becoming the fourth-largest iron ore producer in the world. More recently, Fortescue has embarked on another ambitious pivot. In 2020, it established Fortescue Future Industries, signaling a strategic shift toward green energy and hydrogen production, aiming to decarbonize heavy industry.