Rose Porteous, the widow of iron ore magnate Lang Hancock, is selling off her Sydney assets.
The said assets, a commercial property in Double Bay that had been in her possession for a long time, are believed to be a little more than $15 million, according to Domain. This block that has 22 office spaces and 18 car spaces reportedly will converted to luxury apartments by the buyer Anka Property Group, which is headed by Boyarsky family from Double Bay.
That building together with Porteous' mansion Prix D'Amour in Perth were subject to a legal battle in the late 1990s by Hancock's daughter Gina Rinehart. Prix D'Amour is a lavish home Hancock had built for Rose, his third wife. Rinehart wanted to take the properties through the courts while accusing her stepmother of rushing her father's death, but failed and Porteous kept her rights to the properties. She listed the two Double Bay properties in 2000 hoping to get about $7 million each.
Rinehart was convinced that her father's death was unexpected and that Porteous had a hand in his death.
She bought the block in 1991 for $6.1 million a year before Lang Hancock died of a heart disease. She married William Porteous of William Porteous Properties International a few months after Hancock's death. According to Domain, William helped negotiate the sale with CBRE's Ben Stewart.
Although Ben Stewart has declined to comment on the stories that Hancock's widow was also selling her second commercial property on the same Bay Street, he said, "Everything is for sale at the right price". Regarding this property, Porteous bought this block in 1988 for $5.5 million. However, the property lacks off-street parking around the corner. This means that the property could be worth less than $15 million.
