Family of late tycoon Henry Fok back in court as battle begins over single company share worth billions

The battle over the HK$11.3 billion estate of late Hong Kong tycoon and philanthropist Henry Fok Ying-tung reopened in court on Tuesday with three of his 13 children seeking to restore his flagship company’s right to a valuable mainland China development project.

The feuding family reached a deal to end all legal actions over the billionaire’s estate in 2012, but revelations about a lapsed option relating to his project in Nansha in Guangzhou sparked a fresh round of litigation in the High Court.

Before Fok died from cancer in 2006 at the age of 83, Forbes magazine ranked him as the world’s 181st wealthiest person, worth an estimated US$3.7 billion.

He married three times and had 13 children, five of whom belonged to his first family: former legislator Timothy Fok Tsun-ting, Ian Fok Chun-wan, Benjamin Fok Chun-yue and daughters Nora Fok Lai-lor and Patricia Fok Lai-ping.

In 2012, the court heard, former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa was told that the late patriarch had HK$1.6 billion in offshore funds, HK$2.7 billion in assets, with one of his three flagship companies, Henry Fok Estates, valued at HK$7 billion.

All family members and a number of companies reached a settlement over the estate on August 3 of the same year, with Benjamin, Ian and their aunt Fok Mo-kan appointed as executors.