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.
Feuding family of late Hong Kong tycoon reaches ‘agreement in principle’
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.
But parties put the brakes on the trial before the first witness was called last week, in response to the judge’s call for them to consider alternatives to further litigation.
Feuding family of late Hong Kong tycoon makes ‘progress’ towards settlement
On Tuesday, Benjamin’s counsel, Clifford Smith SC, said parties were “very, very close” to agreement, while Ian’s counsel, Wong Yan-lung SC, revealed that they were working towards a final signed agreement that would dispose of the matter in a clean way.
Counsel Samuel Wong, for the second and third families, said they received a “voluminous document” for settling the proceedings on Monday, but would need time to collect signatures from his clients.
The judge eventually decided to adjourn the case until Thursday afternoon, saying he did not want to rush the parties.
In an apparent reference to the events since the last settlement, Lok added: “I don’t want the same thing to happen again.”
