Laura Ashley chief ’s £205m divorce battle ‘all about control’
THE daughter of the Laura Ashley chairman who was ordered to pay £64million to his former wife in a bitter divorce battle has revealed that the High Court fight was more “about control” than money.
Angeline Francis Khoo, 34, said she was no longer on speaking terms with her father, tycoon Khoo Kay Peng, and had chosen to walk away from the family business, as well as any financial support, in order to marry a man of whom he did not approve.
She claimed she had no idea about the scale of her father’s wealth until it was disclosed in court, when her mother, Pauline Chai, 70, was eventually awarded one of the largest settlements in history.
Miss Khoo said: “In these situations, with so much money, often people are, like, ‘I don’t get it. Why are they fighting over so much?’ But it’s not really about the money, it’s about control and losing that control. That’s something that a lot of people can’t grasp, because you’re discussing finances way beyond your basic needs.”
Miss Chai, who was crowned Miss Malaysia in 1969, had demanded half of her former husband’s £205million fortune. She insisted she had made an equal contribution by fulfilling her role as a “traditional” wife during 42 years of marriage and after five children.
Dr Khoo, 78, the non-executive chairman of Laura Ashley Holdings, had wanted to give her just £9million following their split on Valentine’s Day 2013.
The legal costs began to escalate when Dr Khoo fought – and lost – an attempt to have divorce proceedings held in the Malaysian courts, where Miss Chai’s settlement would likely have been far less favourable.
She won the right to have the case heard in London, arguing that the Hertfordshire mansion where she stored her collection of 1,000 pairs of shoes was their main home.
The settlement, handed down in April this year, was described as a victory for “the homemaker”.
Miss Khoo told how she met her husband, Jedidiah Francis, a Caribbeanborn data scientist, while studying at Oxford, but that when she told her father she wanted to marry him, he refused to give her his blessing.
“I believed Dad’s stance was wrong, so there was no question about what was right,” she told the Mail on Sunday. “You can have money and it’s a blessing. It allows you to do things and gives you options, but there are also things that come with it, such as control.”
She said that money “amplified negative characteristics” that could cause problems and that walking away from the family had been an easy decision.
Until that point, Miss Khoo had been destined to work for the family business. She said the plan had been “drilled” into her since she was a teenager and she spent university holidays working in the different departments of Laura Ashley.
Miss Khoo, who was the only witness called in her parents’ divorce, said it was “not a nice situation” and claimed that her mother was quite frugal – despite her shoe collection – choosing to dye her own hair rather than go to the hairdresser’s.