Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart offered her estranged daughter Hope A$300 million (US$306 million) in a bid to end a sordid feud over the family fortune, according to e-mails published yesterday.
The revelations come a day after media reported that her son had sought a A$15 million “sorry payment” from his mother for the way she treated him over the years.
Hope Welker, John Hancock and their sister Bianca have been embroiled in a legal battle with their mother — Australia’s richest person — over control of a family trust worth a reported A$4 billion.
Trustee Rinehart has sought to block a huge payout that was due to be made to her children in 2011 until 2068. The three took her to court in an attempt to gain access to the trust.
Welker, who pulled out of the legal battle on Tuesday, begged her younger sister Ginia — the sole sibling to remain loyal to their mother — for help to pay her bills in 2011, e-mails submitted to the New South Wales Supreme Court, which were obtained by a newspaper, revealed.
She also threatened to go to the media because she could not afford her rent and school fees, the mails showed.
“Why the hell don’t you just take the A$300 million mum has repeatedly offered you and walk away,” Ginia blasted in one vitriolic exchange printed in The Australian Financial Review.
‘REALLY DISGUSTING’
“Not that you deserve a penny, as you have never worked a day in your life, but if you cannot live with A$300 million for doing absolutely nothing, then you really are disgusting,” Ginia said.
A separate e-mail exchange between Hancock and his mother revealed how he had attempted to come to a confidential financial agreement with Rinehart before the case came to court, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Wednesday.
Hancock said he would agree to delay vesting of the trust for an unspecified annual salary.
‘SORRY PAYMENT’
He later demanded “a A$15m ‘sorry payment’ direct from GHR [Gina Hope Rinehart] for how she treated me over these last 15 years.”
The trust, set up by Rinehart’s father, the late Lang Hancock, in 1988, had his four grandchildren as beneficiaries.
Rinehart was to run the trust, which holds a 23.4 percent slice of her company, Hancock Prospecting, until the youngest grandchild turned 25 in 2011.
However, just days before, she sought to delay the payout until 2068, saying it would avoid a huge tax bill.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
PRESSURE EXPECTED: The appreciation of the NT dollar reflected expectations that Washington would press Taiwan to boost its currency against the US dollar, dealers said Taiwan’s export-oriented semiconductor and auto part manufacturers are expecting their margins to be affected by large foreign exchange losses as the New Taiwan dollar continued to appreciate sharply against the US dollar yesterday. Among major semiconductor manufacturers, ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing services provider, said that whenever the NT dollar rises NT$1 against the greenback, its gross margin is cut by about 1.5 percent. The NT dollar traded as strong as NT$29.59 per US dollar before trimming gains to close NT$0.919, or 2.96 percent, higher at NT$30.145 yesterday in Taipei trading
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