Iron ore tycoon Gina Rinehart loses $3.8bn legal battle
Judge Brereton said Gina Rinehart had gone to “extraordinary lengths” to maintain control of the family trust, which owns 24% of Hancock Prospecting — a company founded by her father Lang Hancock. (Image from archives)
After a long-running legal battle, Australia’s richest person and iron ore tycoon Gina Rinehart, lost Thursday control of the roughly $3.8 billion family trust in court to her children John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart.
NSW Supreme Court Justice Paul Brereton named Bianca, 38, as trustee of the Hope Margaret Hancock Trust, which was set up by her late grandfather Lang Hancock and is thought to be worth about $5 billion.
The judge also ordered Rinehart to hand up documents and accounts relating to the trust that John and Bianca had claimed were withheld from them for many years.
The ruling weakens Rinehart’s grip on her business empire, with the trust holding almost 25% of iron ore miner Hancock Prospecting, which she inherited from her father who claimed swathes of the rich Pilbara iron ore deposits in the 1950s.
Last year the mining company finalized a deal worth $7.2bn to develop Roy Hill, one the world’s largest iron ore mines, which is expected to begin shipments later this year.
South Korea’s POSCO, Japan’s Marubeni Corp and Taiwan’s China Steel Corp also have stakes in the mine, which will be Australia’s No.4 once it reaches full production.
Rinehart was this week ranked the 37th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine. Her wealth is estimated at $12.2 billion, down from $17.4 billion last year.
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Comments
Rayna Hay
OMG! I do so hope this family can work together and maintain all the mines and other interest it has. I do wish them all the best to resolve all their issues and function as a business unit in lieu of lost affections through this very ugly and public feud.
I think they all need love, and the love and support of each other.
Fear of losing the thing you hold dearest or claim your identity through can cause people to act strangely and do weird things, even reach out to weird people [Qld MP] but! sometimes you don’t really get to know yourself until you’re left alone with yourself. The children of Georgia have one definite advantage over their Mother, and that is: they have each other!
I feel for them all and so do wish them every success as a family!