The epic battle for control of the $2.7 billion Thyssen family fortune was finally settled yesterday afternoon when the family issued a joint press statement.

Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, 81, had been suing his eldest son in the Supreme Court in Bermuda to try and wrest control of the family business empire from his son, who he had put in charge in 1983.

The Baron, who has been seriously ill in the past year and was admitted to hospital in Spain in January, claimed his son owed him $232 million with arrears and loss of value.

The trial, which began in earnest in October 1999 after a year of legal wrangling, is believed to be the most expensive in Bermuda's history, and when the trial was halted in March last year estimates were that $100 million had been spent in legal fees.

But in a joint statement issued yesterday, the family said: "The family very much regrets that misunderstandings have led to legal proceedings which today are all dismissed or withdrawn, and also that the family, its members and professionals who have worked with the family were subjected to adverse media coverage connected with such misunderstandings."

The statement was jointly issued by Baron Hans Heinrich T hyssen-Bornemisza, his fifth wife Carmen (Tita) Cervera (also called Baroness Thyssen-Bornemisza), his eldest son Georg, also known as Heini junior, his daughter Archduchess Francesca von Habsburg, his son Lorne Thyssen-Bornemisza and Borja Thyssen-Bornemisza, his adopted son by his fifth wife, who is a former Miss Spain and is said to have been behind the protracted legal battle.

The statement said that the above "happily announce that a new family agreement has been concluded".

The main elements of the new family agreement are the continued undivided ownership of TBG, the family business interests, in the established Bermuda Trust (the reason the case was tried in Bermuda).

It added that TBG will continue to be governed by an independent Supervisory Board under the Chairmanship of Heini junior.

There are also new arrangements for the payment of the Baron's annuity, a sum that was not disclosed.

And it added that there would be continued representation of the family on the Board of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Foundation in Madrid, specifically by the Baroness as Vice Chairman for life and by the Archduchess.

This appears to mean that any doubt about the future of the famed Thyssen art collection, which is housed in a purpose-built museum in Madrid, has been washed away and the children will not lay any claim to the collection, which was given to the Spanish state by the Baron.

The statement said that the Baron was "very pleased that the Baroness, Heini junior, the Archduchess, Lorne and Borja have reached a full and final agreement with him as to the distribution of his remaining estate in accordance with his wishes and he is grateful to them all for doing so".

The Baron said in the statement: "The priority for the family today is to build on its many achievements and to support the contributions of its members to lasting success."

The court case was halted in March, when the presiding Judge Dennis Mitchell abandoned his post in March last year after a pay row, leaving the case hanging.

Since then there have been rumours that the case would settle, but it has taken almost a year for it to do so.

Lawyers have been meeting all this week incamera (behind closed doors) to iron out legal technicalities which eased the way to the settlement.

The trial originally started in October 1999 after two years of legal wrangles over what evidence could and could not be submitted.

The trial had been stopped for legal clarifications for more than six months before Christmas 2000, and resumed in January 2001.

The opening statements for the Baron's lawyers took 15 months to complete.

There were 121,959 documents entered into evidence and there was an average of 600 pages of transcripts from the case each week.