Gay man's divorce could cost $290m

Pierre Lagrange. Photo /AP

A top hedge fund manager is facing one of the most expensive divorce settlement in British legal history after telling his wife he is gay.

Pierre Lagrange, who is said to be worth at least £300 million ($574 million) through running the firm GLG Partners, has sold his opulent London home on the road known as billionaires' row in anticipation that half his wealth could be claimed by his wife, Catherine.

A spokesman for GLG confirmed that the couple split last year after the Belgian came out to his family and friends, and he has since started a relationship with Roubi L'Roubi, a Mayfair fashion designer.

The Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich has paid £90 million for Lagrange's 15-bedroom house in Kensington Palace Gardens, where his neighbours will include the richest man in Britain, Lakshmi Mittal, and the oil magnate Len Blavatnik.

But it is entirely possible Lagrange will have to find a further £60 million to meet the financial demands of the split.

The record is around £100 million, granted to the wife of the Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky. A leading divorce lawyer, Ayesha Vardag, said the increasing frequency of such sums was raising eyebrows.

"There is a general concern that awards are too high and that the principle that has been in place since 2000 - of generally sharing equally no matter who earned it - is being somewhat stretched in the light of the huge awards that are coming through.

"The courts have said that these awards are bigger than anyone expected they would be. It would invite a re-evaluation of the straightforward 50:50 approach to marital assets."

Lagrange can at least take some heart that a £150 million payout would not be the biggest amount of money he has had to write off, having lost an estimated £265 million during the credit crunch, although he regained much of it.

Lagrange has also found the arts to be a profitable sector, investing in the films Avatar and Kick-Ass.