Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (UK) v Her Majesty’s Attorney General and others [2017] EWHC 1379 (Ch), [2017] All ER (D) 67 (Jun)
The Chancery Division approved a grant of US$360m from the claimant charity, The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (UK) (CIFF), which was founded by Sir Christopher Hohn and his ex-wife, Ms Cooper, to Big Win Philanthropy, a charity founded by Ms Cooper. The court held that members of a charity owed fiduciary duties to act in the best interests of that charity, including a charitable company limited by guarantee, and that the grant, which was approved following the couple’s divorce, would be in the best interests of CIFF. Among other things, it held that the proposed grant would constitute a payment as consideration for, or in connection with, Ms Cooper’s loss of office, within the proper meaning of s 215(1) of the Companies Act 2006, so as to require the approval of CIFF’s members, under s 217 of that Act. It ordered that, subject the consent of the Charity Commission and CIFF’s memorandum, the grant had to be approved by CIFF’s members.
