Hedge fund billionaire Sir Chris Hohn has been ordered to pay £270m to a charity setup by his ex-wife in the latest chapter of their acrimonious divorce. The UK’s highest court on Wednesday ordered that Hohn’s Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) must hand the money to his ex-wife Jamie Cooper’s charity, Big Win Philanthropy. The dispute over the charity cash emerged following the couple’s bitter divorce in 2014. Hohn, who runs the Children’s Investment Fund hedge fund, was ordered to pay Cooper a £337m divorce settlement – one of the largest ever. In 2002 the couple jointly set up the CIFF charity to help children in developing countries. It is one of the biggest charities in the world with assets of about $4bn, mostly resulting from the profits of Hohn’s hedge fund. The supreme court heard that the charity “became difficult to manage when their marriage broke down”. The couple agreed that £270m of its funds would be transferred to Cooper’s new charity in return for her stepping down from the board of CIFF. The deal required the approval of the CIFF board, which has just three members: Hohn, Cooper and Marko Lehtimaki, a friend of Hohn’s. Hohn and Cooper recused themselves from the decision, leaving only Lehtimaki. The supreme court on Wednesday upheld a previous ruling that Lehtimaki should vote in favour of the transfer agreement. Cooper, chair and president of Big Win Philanthropy, said: “I am extremely gratified by the supreme court’s decision. This will enable Big Win Philanthropy to significantly expand its support to African leaders pursuing ambitious initiatives to improve the lives of children and young people.” Her lawyer Matthew Dontzin described the ruling as “a complete victory”. “The truth of her claim could not be denied no matter how many legal obstacles they tried to throw at her,” he said. “This is a well-deserved and long overdue victory for Ms Cooper, who has dedicated her life to helping underprivileged children in developing countries and plans to use this money to continue that important mission.” CIFF said the court ruling would have “no significant impact on the work that CIFF does around the world to improve the lives of children”. Hohn, who was knighted in 2014 for his services to philanthropy, was paid £200m in 2018 (the latest year for which figures are available), making him one of the highest paid people in the country. He is one of the UK’s more generous philanthropists and gave away $232m (£177m) through CIFF in 2018. The charity directed $80m at tackling the climate crisis and gave $140m to various children’s charities and projects. Hohn has also personally donated £200,000 to Extinction Rebellion.