John Charman, an insurance magnate who set up Axis...
John Charman, the Bermudian insurance magnate who set up Axis, has been ordered by the High Court to pay his former wife £48m in what is thought to be the largest divorce award in legal history.
Charman had previously offered his wife their home in Kent and £6m after their marriage ended in 2003.
On Thursday, he said he would appeal against the ruling, issuing a statement that the award was "unfair and unreasonable".
Mr Justice Coleridge awarded Mrs Charman a total sum
of £48m which includes £8m of assets already in her name.
The £40m he has now been asked to pay his wife, is said by the judge to be just under 37% of the assets which he found amounted to just over £131m, including trust assets.
Charman has built up considerable wealth in the London insurance market.
He set up the Dragon Trust in Bermuda in 1987 which has assets worth £68m.
After the ruling, Charman said: “This judgment is poor and blatantly discriminatory. The size of the award is grotesque and unfair. By any reasonable standards
this is an extraordinary decision.
“I made a fair and open offer to my wife of £20m, which would be impossible for any reasonable person to spend in their lifetime.”
Charman is appealing the ruling.
