Gina Rinehart

Gina Rinehart

Postby winston » Mon Feb 06, 2012 3:20 pm

Australian billionaire threatens family ransom funds

Asia's richest woman, Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart, threatened to axe her children's ransom insurance, as a bitter legal dispute raged over a family trust, according to reports.

Rinehart, 57, is locked in a court battle with three of her four children over control of a trust worth an estimated Aus$3 billion (US$3.2 billion).

The acrimonious dispute escalated last week when Rinehart lost a bid to have correspondence suppressed, in which her children said they feared for their safety and that of their families as Rinehart's wealth surged.

Rinehart is worth an estimated Aus$18 billion and her fortunes are set to soar as commodity prices rally, with Forbes Asia saying she could soon challenge Wal-Mart widow Christy Walton as the world's richest woman.

Citigroup has predicted that her wealth could one day eclipse that of Carlos Slim and Bill Gates, making her the richest person in the world amid projections her wealth could top US$100 billion.

Rinehart stepped up pressure on her children Monday, demanding they agree to keep details of the legal battle private or lose their kidnapping insurance, after emails detailing their safety fears were released by the court.

"We can only presume that your clients' previously stated concerns for the personal safety of their families and themselves have now completely and entirely disappeared," said a letter from her lawyers published by the Australian Financial Review.

"Under these circumstances it seems that your clients would place no value in the continuation of ransom insurance that is currently provided to them and/or their young children," the letter continued.

"Indeed you may consider such insurance to be wasteful expenditure."

The emails released Friday by the Supreme Court revealed pleas from Rinehart's two eldest daughters for bodyguards and greater protection for their homes, fearing kidnapping for ransom over her sizeable fortune.

Source: AFP Global Edition
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Re: Gina Rinehart

Postby winston » Thu Feb 09, 2012 1:44 pm

Australia's richest person Rinehart shakes up media by Madeleine Coorey

A shock move by Australia's richest person Gina Rinehart into quality newspaper group Fairfax is likely designed to build her influence and reflects the rise of the nation's mineral wealth, analysts say.

Her recent Aus$145.9 million (US$157 million) share purchase came as explosive details of the iron ore heiress's feud with three of her four children came to light, including emails in which her family plead for bodyguards.

Rinehart, whose fortune is said to have the potential to rival the world's richest men Carlos Slim and Bill Gates, has not commented on her investment in the firm which publishes The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

But when news of the purchase broke, Australia's Communications Minister Stephen Conroy was the first to say that Rinehart, who has been critical of a government mining tax, was seeking to exert her influence.

Media analyst Peter Cox agrees the foray by Asia-Pacific's richest woman, which follows her decision to take a stake in free-to-air television station Network Ten, was aimed at having her voice taken more seriously.

"Like around the world, you wouldn't be investing in newspapers... or free-to-air television as a financial investment for the future when both of these industries are facing both structural and cyclical changes," he told AFP.

"I think that would be illogical. Without a doubt she is buying Fairfax shares to have influence."

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