Two billionaire sisters surfaced yesterday after details about the estate of their late father, Harold Simmons, emerged in regulatory filings and a redacted will obtained by Bloomberg News.

Lisa K. Simmons, 58, and Serena Simmons Connelly, 44, control 93.8 percent of Dallas-based Contran Corp., a closely held entity that holds majority stakes in four publicly traded companies: Valhi Inc., NL Industries Inc., Kronos Worldwide Inc. and CompX International Inc. The companies have a combined market capitalization of $6.4 billion.

The Contran stock is owned through trusts for the benefit of the two siblings, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The combined holdings are valued at $3.8 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Harold Simmons died in Dallas on Dec. 28. He controlled an $8 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

“He was a passionate person -- passionate about his family, his business, philanthropy and politics,” oilman T. Boone Pickens, chairman of Dallas-based BP Capital LLC, said in a statement after Simmons’s death.

Valhi and NL Industries are primarily holding companies for Kronos, the world’s third-largest maker of titanium dioxide, a white pigment used in house paint and rayon clothing, and CompX, which makes desk and ergonomic systems.

Phone calls to Simmons, Connelly and three representatives of the companies were not returned.

Simmons Foundation

Lisa Simmons has been president of the Harold Simmons Foundation since 1988. It had assets of $39.9 million and made $18.5 million in charitable gifts in fiscal 2012, according to its most recent disclosed tax return.

She developed the Dallas-based foundation’s grant-making policy and procedures and manages all grant proposals, according to the foundation’s website. She holds an undergraduate degree from Duke University.

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