Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart has appointed the only one of her children who backed her in a vicious family dispute to the boards of three major mining companies that hold the key to Rinehart’s multi-billion dollar fortune.
According to The Australian, Rinehart has now appointed her 25-year old daughter Ginia to the boards of three companies – Hancock Prospecting, Hope Downs Marketing and HMHT Investments, replacing older sister Bianca.
The move comes after Bianca Rinehart and Rinehart’s other two children, John Hancock and Hope Welker, launched legal action in the New South Wales Supreme Court to have Rinehart removed as head of a family trust.
Ginia Rinehart had sided with her mother in this dispute and now appears likely to take the place as Gina’s heir apparent.
Gina is fighting to keep the precise details of the legal dispute with her children secret. So far she has managed to keep in place a suppression order preventing the release of any details about the case.
Rinehart’s legal team will return to the NSW Court of Appeal on Friday to argue that the suppression order should not be lifted.
Gina Rinehart inherited Hancock Prospecting from her father Lang Hancock, although it suffered under high debt levels for years until Rinehart restructured the company.
Rinehart is no stranger to litigation. Over 11 years, Rinehart attempted to win control of the trust from Hancock’s second wife Rose Porteus, while she also fought and lost a nine-year dispute with Angela Bennett and Michael Wright, descendants of Lang Hancock’s business partner.
Rinehart is Australia’s richest person, with a fortune of more than $10 billion. In addition to her mining interests she also owns stakes in Ten Network and Fairfax Media.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
