Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, was yesterday ordered by a court to relinquish control of a multi-billion dollar family trust to her eldest daughter, culminating a long and bitter feud.
The New South Wales Supreme Court appointed Bianca Rinehart as head of the trust, reportedly worth between A$4 billion and A$5 billion (US$3.1 billion and US$3.8 billion), which was established by her grandfather, mining magnate Lang Hancock.
“The court concluded that Bianca was better suited than any of the alternatives to administer this trust in the prevailing circumstances,” the judgement read.
Photo: Bloomberg
It ordered Gina Rinehart to deliver the trust documents and accounts to her daughter.
The family feud has been simmering since 2011, when three of Rinehart’s four children — son John and sisters Bianca and Hope — acted against their mother. Their other sister, Ginia, supported her.
At the center of the dispute was the lucrative trust set up by Lang Hancock in 1988 with his four grandchildren as the beneficiaries.
His daughter Gina was to run the fund, which holds a 24 percent share in her iron ore company Hancock Prospecting, until the youngest grandchild turned 25 in 2011.
However, just days before this date, Gina Rinehart allegedly moved to delay the payout until 2068, saying it would avoid a huge capital gains tax bill.
This prompted the siblings to take court action accusing her of misconduct, although Hope later withdrew from the case.
Justice Paul Brereton said in handing down the ruling that Rinehart had “gone to extraordinary lengths” to maintain control directly or indirectly of the trust.
However, he ruled that Bianca had demonstrated the ability to “robustly assert the rights of the trust.”
Gina Rinehart was this week ranked the 37th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine with wealth of US$12.2 billion, down from US$17.4 billion last year due to a slumping iron ore price.
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