A bitter legal showdown between billionaire heiress Heloise Pratt and her former husband Alex Waislitz is in talks to be settled, a move that would avoid a messy fight that threatened to reshape control of one of the nation’s most prominent business dynasties, the $1.3 billion Thorney Investment Group, and air the dirty laundry of one of Melbourne’s wealthiest families.
Pratt, the eldest daughter of the late packaging magnate Richard Pratt, sued investment mogul Waislitz over claims he misused the family wealth and breached the agreement that underpins Thorney’s ownership. Pratt was understood to be seeking about $750 million and the appointment of an independent trustee to replace Jamahjo, the private entity through which the pair control Thorney.
Alex Waislitz and his ex-wife Heloise PrattCredit: AFR
Now, after months of public mudslinging, a week-long trial that was scheduled to kick off in Victoria’s Supreme Court has been adjourned for two consecutive days and settlement discussions are ongoing, according to a source close to the parties not authorised to speak publicly.
The stoush first dates to 1991, when Waislitz was gifted $1.2 million worth of Amcor shares by his late father-in-law, a story commonly retold in Melbourne business circles. Those assets ballooned into a $300 million investment portfolio by the end of that decade, and Thorney is now one of the nation’s highest-profile private investment groups, worth more than $1 billion.
Waislitz and Pratt have three children together and married in 1994, before separating in 2014. At first, the divorce was amicable, but relations soured, eventually landing at the Supreme Court. At the heart of the dispute was Project Rose, a code name for a 2005 deal struck when the couple were married, giving Pratt and Waislitz equal stakes in Thorney via a trust. The pact also led to the establishment of the Halex family trust, which Pratt argued was established “with the primary intention of providing equally” for their three children, Jake, Milly and Joseph.
Anthony Pratt and sister Heloise Pratt at the 2023 Met Gala in New York.Credit: Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Pratt alleged Waislitz had taken control of the business at her expense and to the detriment of their children. In her view, Waislitz was simply employed as an executive of Thorney, whose ultimate owner was the Pratt family. Waislitz, however, says he was solely responsible for Thorney’s establishment and growth, and that he chose the name Thorney with the idea it would be a “thorn in the side” of complacent company managers.
In court filings, Pratt alleged Waislitz misappropriated more than $21 million for personal use, including the purchase of a $20 million penthouse in developer Tim Gurner’s Saint Moritz complex, two Toorak homes linked to his fiancee, fledgling pop star Rebekah Behbahani, and her sister Venus. Pratt also alleged her ex-husband transferred millions from their family trust to fund Behbahani’s pop music career, including $14 million to a music promoter. Pratt said the moves flouted the governance arrangements of their trust, and wanted an independent trustee installed to restore balance.
When Pratt filed her case against Waislitz in November, she claimed her former husband “acted dishonestly for his own benefit and engaged in criminality”, though the reference to criminality was later dropped.
