Feuding family of late Hong Kong tycoon Henry Fok ‘very, very close’ to settlement, court hears
- Parties have said they are working towards a final signed agreement, but still need more time to work out the details, take instructions and collect signatures
- Mr Justice David Lok grants fifth adjournment, of two days, to allow talks between the parties to continue as he does not want to rush them
The late Hong Kong tycoon Henry Fok Ying-tung’s feuding family is working towards a final signed agreement aimed at settling an ongoing court fight over his HK$11.3 billion estate.
The High Court on Tuesday heard that parties were “very, very close” to agreement, but still needed more time to work out the details, take instructions and collect signatures, especially from the beneficiaries living abroad.
Mr Justice David Lok Kai-hong said he did not want to rush parties and granted a fifth adjournment, of two days, for talks to continue.
Fok married three times and had 13 children before he died of cancer at the age of 83 in 2006. All his family members and a number of companies reached a settlement over his estate in 2012.
But a rift emerged among the children from Fok’s first marriage, with Benjamin Fok Chun-yue, Nora Fok Lai-lor and Patricia Fok Lai-ping accusing their brothers, Ian Fok Chun-wan and former legislator Timothy Fok Tsun-ting, of keeping them in the dark.
At the heart of the latest dispute is a single share of their late father’s dream project in Nansha, in Guangzhou, which was transferred from a subsidiary of Henry Fok Estates to the Fok Ying Tung Foundation in 1997, with a buy-back option that eventually expired in 2007, leaving the interest with the charity.
The court heard five days of opening speeches, with Ian denying any breach of his fiduciary duties, and the other family members from his father’s second and third marriages urging the court not to set aside their 2012 settlement agreement.
