Heytesbury Pty. Ltd. is the privately owned company of the Holmes à Court family in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Originally called Heytesbury Holdings, the company was formed by Robert Holmes à Court in the 1970s as the holding company of his rapidly expanding financial empire. After the sale of its interests in Bell Group and Bell Resources in 1988, Heytesbury became a private investment vehicle, acquiring Stoll Moss Theatres and Sherwin Pastoral Co, and investing in companies such as Jaguar Cars, Christie's, Standard Chartered Bank and U.S. Steel. Following the death of Robert Holmes à Court in 1990, his widow

Janet Janet may refer to: Names * Janet (given name) * Janet (French singer) (1939–2011) Surname * Charles Janet (1849–1932), French engineer, inventor and biologist, known for the Left Step periodic table * Jules Janet (1861–1945), French psych ...

took over the management of Heytesbury. Over the next decade a number of assets were sold to reduce the company's heavy debts, including the Stoll Moss Group, a number of cattle stations in Northern Australia, and the

John Holland Group The John Holland Group is an infrastructure, building, rail and transport business operating in Australia and New Zealand. Headquartered in Melbourne, it is a subsidiary of China Communications Construction. History The company was founded in ...

(which had been purchased after Robert's death). In 2000, the eldest son, Peter Holmes à Court, elected to sell his one-sixth share of Heytesbury to pursue his own interests. Robert Holmes à Court had died intestate (without a will), leaving his wife one third of the family fortune with the four children getting the other two thirds. The amount Peter received was reported as A$35 million. Shortly afterwards, in 2000, Paul Holmes à Court, the youngest son of Robert and Janet Holmes à Court, took over the management of Heytesbury. In the same year, Peter Holmes à Court was appointed to the position of chief executive officer of the

Australian Agricultural Company The Australian Agricultural Company (AACo) () is a public-listed Australian company that, as at 2018, owned and operated feedlots and farms covering around of land in Queensland and the Northern Territory, roughly one percent of Australia's la ...

(AACo) and was responsible for re-listing AACo on the

Australian Stock Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...

. This set Peter up in direct competition with the family, since the primary business of both Heytesbury and AACo was cattle. In 2008, Paul bought out his other family shareholders and took sole ownership of the company. Heytesbury now owns a number of large cattle stations in

Northern Australia The unofficial geographic term Northern Australia includes those parts of Queensland and Western Australia north of latitude 26° and all of the Northern Territory. Those local government areas of Western Australia and Queensland that lie p ...

(including Mount Sanford Station and the famous Victoria River Downs),

Vasse Felix Vasse Felix was the first vineyard and winery to be established in the Margaret River wine region of Western Australia. Founded in Wilyabrup in 1967 by Dr Tom Cullity, it is recognised as a pioneer of the region, and also features an acclaim ...

(Margaret River's first winery) and the thoroughbred stud Heytesbury Stud near

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, Western Australia.

References

External links

* {{Official website Companies based in Perth, Western Australia Holding companies of Australia