Mineral Resources chief Chris Ellison makes up to $22.4m from sale of properties leased to the mining giant

Chris Ellison is set to bank more than $22 million following the recent sale of three industrial properties that are either currently or formerly tenanted by his Mineral Resources. It comes as The West Australian on Thursday also revealed the onetime billionaire is selling his prized yacht. The properties in Perth’s southern suburbs were put on the market from October after MinRes was raked over the coals for its business arrangements with Mr Ellison. “Given the feedback from investors around minimising potential conflicts of interest, Chris is offering the properties for sale on market,” the company stated in November. An entity wholly owned by the outgoing MinRes boss sold an office, warehouse and outdoor storage space on 2 Thorpe Way in Kwinana Beach for $9.1m earlier this month. The property is leased out to MinRes until at least the end of 2034, with current rent of $587,000 a year and fixed annual rent increases of 3.5 per cent. A similar site on a larger piece of land at 147 Barrington Street in Bibra Lake, which currently fetches $976,000 of rent annually, also sold earlier this month for $15.1m. Like the Thorpe Way premises, the Barrington Street site is leased to MinRes for at least the next decade with 3.5 per cent annual rent increases. Mr Ellison has a 51 per cent stake in the Plastic Property Trust, which ultimately owns the Barrington Street site, meaning his cut of the windfall could be about $7.7m. PPT in November sold another Bibra Lake industrial property — 25 Wellard Street — for $11m to potentially net Mr Ellison about $5.6m. While the Wellard Street premises was untenanted at the time of the sale, it is understood the mysterious buyer is a mining services competitor to MinRes who bought it owing to the fit-out already in place. MinRes was formerly a tenant of 25 Wellard Street, as was Mr Ellison’s daughter Kristy-Lee Craker. Shipping companies owned by Ms Craker were asked to repay $158,000 to MinRes following an investigation into a “rent relief” scheme at that Wellard Street address spanning 11 years. Ownership of 25 Wellard Street was in the hands of MinRes subsidiary PIHA Pty Ltd as PPT’s bare trustee just prior to the recent sale. PPT itself is a unit trust for Plastic Property Pty Ltd. The $22.4m Mr Ellison stands to collect from the $35.2m of sales excludes any potential outstanding debts on the three properties. The trio of properties were bought for a combined $11.5m between 1994 and 2007. The string of sales comes as Mr Ellison, who has a mortgage on the riverside Mosman Park mansion he bought for $57.5m in 2009, watches his MinRes salary and paper wealth dwindle. In November, just as the three industrial properties were put on the market, the Kiwi native and his wife Tia sold a house that forms part of their Mosman Park compound for $5.4m. They shelled out $5m for the house 10 years prior. Mr Ellison two weeks ago paid a $3.8m penalty to MinRes for his well-publicised indiscretions, which included running a tax evasion scheme and misusing company resources. In November he also agreed to fork out $5m to an unnamed charity and forfeit all his short and long-term performance incentives that were worth up to $6.5m. Nearly three quarters of Mr Ellison’s $6m salary for the 2024 financial year was tied to performance bonuses. The value of his 11.5 per cent stake in MinRes that was worth $1.5 billion a year ago is now valued at about $560m. Millions of dollars in dividends he was receiving each year from that shareholding has also now dried up as the debt-laden MinRes battles weak lithium and iron ore prices. Mr Ellison is set to depart as boss of MinRes by the middle of next year in the wake of his various indiscretions. MinRes declined to comment.