Delaware trust buys Hershey chocolate plant. Friday, September 30, 2011

Milton S. Hershey’s historic chocolate factory has left the Hershey family.

The Hershey Co. sold the 105-year-old Derry Township factory for $50 million to Chocolate Realty, a Delaware statutory trust.

The most likely buyer was widely believed to be the Milton Hershey School Trust, a $7.5 billion endowment created by Milton Hershey.

The trust was established to provide income in perpetuity for the Milton Hershey School in Derry Township, a residential educational organization for disadvantaged youths.

Earlier this year, the trust had said it was interested in the property but would make an offer only if it could do so within the guidelines left by Milton S. Hershey.

To that end, the trust hired a Lancaster firm, High Real Estate Group, to provide a market analysis and examine the environmental and other costs that would be necessary for adaptive reuse of the properties.

.........and the Milton Hershey School Trust did not tender an offer for the property,” said Connie McNamara, trust spokeswoman.

"Get The Point?'

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/ind...tml#incart_hbx

I'm not sure that I do. That a trust entity can speak, buy & sell, and generate perpetual income? Much like a human?

By the way, the Milton Hershey School is the richest K-12 school in the nation. Chocolate magnate Milton S. Hershey secretly willed the bulk of his fortune to a charitable trust to establish a school (orphanage) 35 years before his death. I think this trust continues to be the single largest shareholder of The Hershey Company.

"Hershey Trust Company is a private trust company founded by Milton S. Hershey in 1905. Hershey Trust Company is wholly owned by the Milton Hershey School Trust, for which Hershey Trust Company is Trustee. In 1909, Milton Hershey created the Milton Hershey School and School Trust and appointed Hershey Trust Company as Trustee of the School Trust. Mr. Hershey established the Milton Hershey School and School Trust to provide full-time education and care for disadvantaged children in perpetuity. The School's original enrollment was 10 students. Today, over 100 years later, Mr. Hershey's legacy continues. The School currently has an enrollment of more than 1,800 students, with an equal mix of boys and girls. Enrollment is expected to grow to 2,000 students in coming years.

Because of Hershey Trust Company's consistent, superior investment management of Milton Hershey's original funding of 486 acres of land and $60 million in Hershey Chocolate Company stock, the assets of the School have grown to a value exceeding $8 billion today."
http://www.hersheytrust.com

Hershey is a fascinating story of failure & success - the Good Millionaire. About 10 years ago I recall a battle over the direction the administrators wished to take the school/trust. Anyway, if you're ever in Pennsylvania I recommend a visit to the Hershey Museum.

The Nation’s Oldest Charitable Trust ...

Quote:

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A controversy has erupted over a settlement allowing the nation’s oldest charitable trust to sell condominiums to existing renters in Ipswich, Mass. Created for the benefit of local schoolchildren, the trust was established in 1661 by William Payne, an early Massachusetts settler, who decreed in his will that the trust was for the “benifitt of the said scoole of Ipswitch, for euer…and therefore the sayd land not to bee sould nor wasted.”

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can you guess what action the state Attorney General supports as resolution to the controversy?

http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/ph...s-dispute.html

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/reg...spute_in_mass/