Multimillionaire faces Britain’s biggest divorce payout

The multimillionaire food and drinks magnate Vivian Imerman is facing what could become Britain’s biggest divorce payout after his estranged wife demanded a £100 million share of his fortune.

Lisa-Tchenguiz
His or hers?: Lisa Tchenguiz-Imerman with Ian Robertson in the the 3,000th Rolls-Royce Phantom
His or hers?: Lisa Tchenguiz-Imerman with Ian Robertson in the the 3,000th Rolls-Royce Phantom

Lisa Tchenguiz, 43, signed a pre-nuptial agreement with Mr Imerman when the couple married six years ago, but because his fortune has increased substantially since then she is no longer prepared to settle for what was allegedly agreed.

Their year-long divorce battle has become so bitter that a High Court judge described one episode as being “at the extreme end of the range of behaviour which I have seen during the course of the last 30 years”.

Shortly after Miss Tchenguiz filed for divorce, her husband was locked out of his Mayfair office, which he shared with his wife’s brothers, the property tycoons Vincent and Robert Tchenguiz, and 20,000 documents were downloaded from his computer.

In the latest round of their court fight, which has already cost an estimated £5.5 million, Mr Justice Moylan ruled that Miss Tchenguiz can use information contained in the files to prove her husband’s current wealth, estimated at £375 million.

Mr Imerman, who has always maintained that he was happy to disclose his finances, is appealing against the decision, and is said to be particularly upset that his wife obtained personal information such as medical records and family emails from his hard drive.

If Miss Tchenguiz, who was previously married to the former Radio 1 presenter Gary Davies, comes close to obtaining the £100m she has asked for she will comfortably top the current record for a British divorce settlement, believed to be the £48 million which the insurance magnate John Charman was ordered to pay his wife Beverley in 2006.

A source close to 53-year-old Mr Imerman said: “The ridiculous thing about this case is that Vivian signed a pre-nup at the request of the Tchenguiz family, because at the time of the marriage he was nowhere near as wealthy as Lisa’s family.

“But since then his fortune has gone from tens of millions to hundreds of millions, and now Lisa wants a share of that.”

Mr Imerman made around £396m by selling the whisky group Whyte & Mackay in 2007, having previously sold a £380m stake in Del Monte.

He was a business partner of the Tchenguiz brothers until they barred him from their shared office, after Mr Imerman had sent his chauffeur to collect a £250,000 bulletproof Rolls Royce Phantom which his wife had been using.

A source close to the Tchenguiz family said the latest ruling was “extremely good news” but added that the year-long battle was far from over.

“Vivian had been working for free in Robbie’s office,” the source said. “After Vivian took Lisa’s Rolls Royce while she was on a skiing holiday, his system was accessed and information was copied and printed. That information can now be used in the divorce case.

“It’s probably going to set legal case history. The whole thing has been dragging on so long and it’s got incredibly complicated. There’s now been an order to swap financial information which will be heard soon.”

Although Mr Justice Moylan allowed Miss Tchenguiz to use the information obtained from the hard drive, he ordered her to pay the £1m costs of the latest hearing, as Mr Imerman had offered from the outset to adhere to the terms of the pre-nuptial agreement, which was signed in South Africa and which agreed that both parties would walk away from the marriage with their existing assets.

South African-born Mr Imerman is now living with his first wife Gina, the mother of his three grown-up children.

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