The ex-wife of Russia's richest man Roman Abramovich will not be the world's wealthiest divorcee but former air hostess Irina will still get $300 million from the split, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
Vedomosti business daily quoted sources close to Abramovich as saying Irina, who met Roman aboard a plane flying to Germany in 1990, will get less than two percent of his $18.7 billion fortune after their 16-year marriage.
Abramovich's spokesman John Mann declined to comment. British newspapers had speculated that Irina, 39, might get half the fortune following confirmation of the split and reports that Abramovich had been seen with young Russian model Darya Zhukova, the ex-girlfriend of Russian tennis star Marat Safin.
"Two acquaintances of Abramovich say that under an amicable agreement she will get substantially less - $300 million," Vedomosti said on Thursday. "One (acquaintance) has noted that this sum is the total, and includes cash and tangible assets such as a house in Britain, a house near Moscow, a yacht and a plane".
The $300 million settlement is dwarfed by the $1.7 billion that Rupert Murdoch, chief executive of US News Corp, paid his ex-wife Anna in 1999 after a 32-year marriage. The Abramoviches issued a statement on Wednesday saying Roman's corporate interests - which include Britain's Chelsea Football Club and a stake in Russian steel giant Evraz - would not be affected.
It said the divorce was agreed in Russia on a consensual basis and that the pair had arranged a financial settlement which included provision for their five children. Under the Russian law, a 50/50 split of wealth accrued during the marriage is normal but Vedomosti said that apart from the $300 million payment Abramovich had only agreed to fully fund his children's needs.
LUXURIOUS LIFE: Abramovich, an orphan, split from his first wife, Olga, in 1990 and married Irina in 1991. The 40-year-old billionaire, who built his fortune mostly from oil and aluminium during the chaos that followed the fall of the Soviet Union, has become the poster boy for Russia's oligarchs, known for savvy business deals and sumptuous living.
Listed by Forbes magazine as the world's 16th richest person he is a source of fascination for Britain's tabloid newspapers, who regularly splash photos of him and his former wife. Top-selling Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda's Thursday coverage of the divorce ran to four pages. It included what it said was a list of Abramovich's property and photographs of Zhukova, one with ex-boyfriend Safin and one with Abramovich.
The list includes two Boeing planes worth $180 million, three yachts worth more than $400 million and houses, castles and hotels in Britain and France worth over $1 billion. Irina could have easily beaten Anna Murdoch's record, but Vedomosti said she had not tried to win a slice of Abramovich's holdings.
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