EVA Airways chairman to inherit fortune of Evergreen billionaire

TAIPEI, Taiwan - EVA Airways Corp. Chairman Chang Kuo-wei on Thursday said he was set to inherit the position and fortune of the late Chang Yung-fa, the billionaire chairman of the Evergreen Group.

Chang Yung-fa, who died at the age of 88 in January, had been widely expected to leave his US$1.6 billion in assets to his charity foundation.

In a statement released Thursday to EVA, Chang Kuo-wei said he would be succeeding his father as chairman of Evergreen Group while retaining his chairmanship of EVA.

According to reports of the released documents, Chang Yung-fa had bequeathed his deposits, equities to his fourth son Chang Kuo-wei.

Chang Kuo-wei was also given oversight over the late tycoon's properties and named chairman of the Evergreen business empire, according to the memo.

'Particularly regrettable'

Later yesterday, Evergreen Group censured Chang Kuo-wei for "unilaterally" declaring the contents of a private will - a "particularly regrettable" move.

A spokesman for Evergreen Group said that in December 2014, Chang Yung-fa had created a will that named Chang Kuo-wei as his successor.

Evergreen Group includes EVA, Asia's largest container fleet Evergreen Marine Corp and Evergreen International Hotels.