(Bloomberg) -- An ex-UBS Group AG banker turned sheep farmer, who amassed a £132 million ($168 million) fortune, won a London court bid to cut the amount his ex-wife should get from their divorce by £20 million.

Clive Standish, a former chief financial officer at UBS, appealed a 2022 ruling that awarded Anna Standish £45 million. His lawyers said he was the main wealth generator and that £80 million gifted to her in 2017 was only put in her name to avoid UK inheritance tax rules.

Court of Appeal judges ruled Thursday that the original split of assets was “flawed” and “resulted in an unjustified division of the family’s wealth in the wife’s favor.” Appeals judges ruled on Thursday that Anna was entitled to £25 million.

London’s divorce courts are a popular destination for high-value legal fights, with judges typically prepared to order a more equal share of a couple’s assets. In the UK, the largest publicly known payout in a divorce is currently £450 million to the wife of billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov — though the two settled with a payment of less than one-third of that amount.

The appeals court ruling will move British courts further away from the principle that divorcing couples should have their assets equally split even if the bulk of wealth was created by one partner over the other. Lawyers for Clive said they believed the reduction to be the biggest ever handed down in a English court.

“This decision means that going forward spouses who bring wealth to the marriage can feel confident that this should not be divided equally by the court even if those resources have been used by the family during the marriage,” Bryan Jones, a lawyer at Hughes Fowler Carruthers who was not involved in the case, said.

The 71-year old banker retired from UBS in 2007. His wife’s lawyers said he earned $45 million between 2003 and 2007, although he argued this didn’t take into account that he was heavily invested in UBS stock which lost its value during the financial crisis.

“I am seeking permission to appeal this decision, which I believe is unfair and effectively rules that I have inferior ownership rights to my ex-husband,” Anna said in a statement. “This is an extraordinary precedent.”

Court documents show the family’s wealth included a £20.5 million house in England and a £20 million Australian farm. The pair married in 2005 and separated in 2020.

A further hearing will now need to take place to ensure that Anna’s expenditure can be met by the new settlement figure, the judges said. 

“His unmatched contribution of very substantial pre-marital wealth has now received fair recognition,” Tim Bishop, Clive’s lawyer said after the ruling.

(Updates with a lawyer comment in the final paragraph)

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