An insurance magnate based in Bermuda has been ordered to pay his ex-wife ?48 million ($91.5 million) at London?s High Court in what is believed to be the biggest-ever settlement in a contested divorce case in British legal history.

John Charman, 53, chief executive officer and president of AXIS Capital Holdings, pledged to appeal the judgment, which he described as ?grotesque? and ?unfair and unreasonable?, in a statement issued by his lawyers.

The ruling by Judge Paul Coleridge will see Mr. Charman hand over a ?40 million ($76.3 million) lump sum to ex-wife Beverley, 52, who turned down his original offer of ?20 million ($38.1 million). The remaining eight million pounds of the settlement is in assets already in her name.

Mr. Charman, who founded his global insurance and reinsurance firm after making his fortune in London in the 1990s, said that amount would be ?impossible for any reasonable person to spend in their lifetime?.

?This judgment is poor and blatantly discriminatory,? he said. ?By any standards this is an extraordinary decision. I made a fair and open offer to my wife.?

The full amount payable to Mrs. Charman is 37 percent of the couple?s assets of just over ?131 million ($250.1 million).

Last week?s ruling, made in private in the Family Division of the High Court, came after a bitter legal wrangle between the British couple, who married in 1976, split in 2003 and have two adult sons, Michael and Nicholas.

Mrs. Charman issued a petition for divorce in June 2004, which included an application for financial settlement.

In 2005, Mr. Justice Coleridge refused Mr. Charman?s application for a stay of his wife?s petition. He had also filed for divorce in August 2004 and argued that his wife should be awarded substantially less than an equal share of their wealth because of his contribution and his ?importance in the global insurance market?.

Mr. Charman claimed their assets were ?59 million ($112.6 million), but his wife insisted they were ?126 million ($240.5 million), because of a ?dynastic? fund set up for future generations of the family.

Last week, the judge ruled that the assets were just over ?131 million, including what was in the Dragon Holdings Trust, calling it a ?huge money case?.

Mr. Charman said: ?The judge has ridden roughshod over a decision, made nearly 20 years ago, to place assets in trust for future generations.?

Last December, Mr. Charman, former head of ACE Limited?s European operations and a veteran of the Lloyd?s of London market, lost a legal challenge to stop Mrs. Charman obtaining information about Dragon.

The Court of Appeal told him he had to disclose details of the fund, which was set up in Jersey in 1987 and which he moved to Bermuda in 2003 when he began living on the Island.

Mr. Charman?s lawyers had argued that Dragon should not be taken into account in the divorce proceedings.

Mr. Charman alone had put money into the fund.

Mr. Justice Coleridge described Mr. Charman as a dynamic, energetic, self-made entrepreneur with ?extraordinary talent and energy?.

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.?

Mr. Charman and his ex-wife are understood to have met in the late 1960s/early 1970s and to have lived at her parents? home when they were first married.

They eventually moved to Sevenoaks, Kent, where they bought a home now worth ?2.75 million ($5.25 million), which she was awarded in the settlement.

Mr. Charman told his wife in November 2003 that he was taking up permanent residence in Bermuda and that their marriage was over.

He initially offered her the Sevenoaks home and six million pounds cash, but she turned it down. Mr. Justice Coleridge said that despite Mr. Charman?s wealth creation, his wife had played a key role in the marriage. ?The wife?s case is the now-familiar one: she says this was a long marriage during which all the wealth was generated from scratch.

?She played her full part as wife and mother. Fairness dictates that the fortune generated during their marriage, apart from the sum set aside in trust for the children, should be split 50-50.?

He said the marriage broke down because the couple were ?utterly different in their personality and approach to the priorities of life. Neither approach can possibly be said to be right or wrong, good or bad.?

He said Mrs. Charman was prepared to accept a 45-55 split in acknowledgement of her husband?s financial contribution.

?Her refusal to compromise on his terms has led him to deploy every available point to protect what he regards as his wealth generated entirely by his efforts,? said the judge. ?In the narrow, old-fashioned sense, that perspective is understandable, if somewhat anachronistic. Nowadays it must attract little sympathy.?

The Daily Telegraph reported Mark Harper, Mr. Charman?s solicitor, as saying: ?My client intends to appeal this decision. It is fundamentally flawed.?

Mr. Harper said the financial award was not the largest ever given in an amicable settlement but was the most in a contested case. Mr. Charman, ranked as Britain?s 321st richest person by the UK?s Sunday Times newspaper in December 2004, made his fortune offering risk insurance during the Gulf War.

He is understood to have sold his Charman Underwriting Agencies for ?350 million ($668.3 million) to ACE in Bermuda, receiving ?70.6 million ($134.8 million) in ACE shares. He left that company with an an apparent $6 million pay-out after allegedly rowing with chief executive officer and chairman Brian Duperreault. He set up Axis after the 9/11 attacks in New York.

His home in Bermuda is believed to be in Fairylands though he was off the Island this weekend. He also has houses in Atlanta and Florida.

Mrs. Charman?s lawyers said she did not wish to comment on the case.