Mark Mullen appeared for HM Attorney General before the Chancellor of the High Court in The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (UK) v HM Attorney General and others [2017] EWHC 1379 (Ch) in which the claimant (‘CIFF’), a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity, sought approval of the making of a grant of $360 million to a new charity established by one of its trustees.

CIFF was founded by the Second Defendant, Sir Christopher Hohn, and his then wife, the Third Defendant, Ms Jamie Cooper. It had assets in excess of $4 billion and its charitable activity was focused on children’s health in the developing world. As a result of the breakdown of the relationship between Sir Christopher and Ms Cooper, the charity encountered governance difficulties and, to resolve these, it was agreed that Ms Cooper would found a new charity, Big Win Philanthropy (‘BWP’), and retire as a trustee of CIFF. Subject to the approval of the Court, CIFF would make a grant of $360 million to BWP and it was further agreed that Sir Christopher would cause a further $40 million to be donated to it. If the grant were to be approved by the Court, Ms Cooper agreed that she would donate a further $40 million to the new charity.

The Court approved the grant in the exceptional circumstances of the case, but determined that it would constitute a ‘material benefit’ to Ms Cooper such as to require the approval of the Charity Commission under the terms of CIFF’s constitution. It further constituted a payment to a director for loss of office for the purposes of sections 215 and 217 of the Companies Act 2006 and would thus require approval by a resolution of members of the company, with the prior consent of the Charity Commission.