Oil tycoon loses offshore assets in HK$212m divorce case
Ex-wife to get overseas wealth in HK$212m suit judged 'significant' for rich divorcing couples
Britain's top court yesterday handed an oil tycoon a costly setback in a divorce case, ruling he must give his ex-wife assets held by an offshore company he owns as part of a £17.5 million (HK$212 million) settlement.
In a case with significant implications for wealthy divorcing couples, the Supreme Court ruled that Nigeria-born Michael Prest should surrender seven properties to his English former wife, Yasmin.
British law provides that companies are legally separate entities from their shareholders - raising a corporate veil - in order to protect investors from debts or liabilities that the company may accumulate.
But Alison Hawes, a specialist family lawyer at law firm Irwin Mitchell, said yesterday's ruling meant "that business people cannot deliberately 'hide' their assets in businesses and corporate structures to protect them in future in the event of a divorce".
The couple, now in their 50s, married in 1993 and lived in Britain before divorcing in 2011. Michael Prest was ordered to transfer the properties as partial payment of the settlement.
He challenged the decision, and last year the Court of Appeal ruled that the companies constituted a separate legal entity and could not be included in the divorce.
But seven Supreme Court justices ruled the properties held in trust by Petrodel Resources were assets to which Michael Prest was "entitled" and should be included in a divorce settlement.
