Bermuda-based reinsurance tycoon John Charman lost his appeal yesterday against a record UK divorce settlement and must now pay his ex-wife $95 million ($48 million).

Mr. Charman, chief executive officer of Axis Capital Holdings Ltd. in Bermuda, branded the settlement “grotesque and unfair”.

The amount awarded to Beverly Charman is the largest payment in the UK to date.

Mr. Charman placed second in The Royal Gazette’s list of the top salaries and compensation packages of the head men at 18 of the Island’s biggest insurance and reinsurance companies

Last year he picked up a compensation package of $10,875,051. His salary was $1,250,000 and he also received a bonus of $1,989,700.

The company also paid for his personal travel between Bermuda, the US and the UK was paid for by the company and was given a $180,000 housing allowance. Among his other perks was $118,000 for club membership fees, payment for financial and tax planning services and UK medical cover for himself and his children.

The original ruling at London’s High Court in August last year said his wife was entitled to a large portion of their assets because they both started their marriage with little money and she took care of the children and home while he worked.

During that case she estimated that he was worth $160 million. Splitting marital assets 50-50 is common in U.K. divorce cases.

But Mr. Charman believed his wife’s account of their wealth was inflated because it included a $70 million trust based in Bemuda, which was set up for future generations of Charmans.

In his appeal it was suggested that a $20 million payment would be more acceptable. Barry Singleton QC, Mr. Charman’s lawyer, argued that his client had made an “exceptional” contribution to the couple’s wealth through his financial skills and that it would be discriminatory for judges not to acknowledge his efforts by awarding him a higher percentage of the assets.

Yesterday, the Court of Appeal judges found the lower court had properly weighed Mr. Charman’s contribution to building the couple’s fortune before ordering him to pay the landmark settlement.

“In our view, the size of the property in the present case should not compel departure from the usual conclusion that wealth generated by a party during a marriage is the product of a contribution on his or her part to the welfare of the family,” the Court of Appeal ruled in its judgement.

Mr. Charman was not in court yesterday but said in a statement: “I intend to appeal against this decision which I genuinely believe is wrong.”

The Charmans married in 1976 and had two children, Nicholas, 30, and Michael, 19.

During the 27-year marriage, Mr Charman built his fortune in the insurance market in the City of London.

News accounts in 2004 said the couple split in part due to tensions stemming from his move to Bermuda.

They separated soon after he moved here and Mrs. Charman remained in the former matrimonial home in Sevenoaks, Kent.

In the original ruling made by Judge Paul Coleridge in August last year Mr. Charman was described as dynamic, energetic, self-made entrepreneur with “extraordinary talent and energy” while Mrs. Charman was a “quiet, even reticent woman, but steady and determined”.

He said the couple’s differences created tension and conflict in a long marriage and eventually led to its destruction.

“Mr. Charman has formed a relationship with another woman,” said the judge. “That may have been the catalyst for the final ending of the marriage, but it was not the cause of its breakdown.”