NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Axis Capital Holdings Ltd. said yesterday its president and chief executive, embroiled in an expensive UK divorce, intends to sell shares in the Bermuda-based insurer from time to time.

Proceeds from John Charman?s stock sales will be used for personal reasons, including for divorce payments, the insurer said in a regulatory filing. Axis declined to provide details on the number of shares Charman plans to sell.

?It is a personal matter and I can?t make representations for (Charman),? a company spokeswoman said.

In August, Charman, 53, became subject to a judgment of about $91 million (?48 million) in a high-profile divorce proceeding with his estranged wife, Beverley. News accounts at the time said the couple split in part due to tensions stemming from Charman?s move to Bermuda while his wife remained in England.

He is appealing the judgment, made in the UK and believed to be the biggest contested divorce award in British legal history.

Charman, who was this year listed on the Sunday Times Rich List as the 707th wealthiest Briton with a fortune of ?82 million ($156 million), made his fortune in the Lloyd?s of London insurance market.

He sold Tarquin Agency, a Lloyd?s syndicate, to Ace Ltd. in 1998 for 70.6 million Ace shares.

Charman left Ace in 2001, forming Axis Capital later that year with backing from private equity investors including Trident III, then a fund managed by Marsh & McLennan?s capital management arm, J.P. Morgan Partners, Thomas H. Lee Partners, the Blackstone Group and Credit Suisse First Boston.

Charman directly owns 587,504 Axis shares, worth about $19 million, after selling 200,000 shares on November 3, according to a November 6 filing.

In August he sold 497,704 Axis shares owned by a trust in the names of his children. That trust and another family trust hold 2.3 million shares, according to the November 6 filing.

Based on Axis Capital?s closing price of $32.56 on Monday, Charman would have to sell 2.8 million of his 3.0 million Axis shares to fund the full amount awarded in the divorce. That is roughly 1.8 percent of the total Axis shares outstanding.

Axis shares edged up 46 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $33.02 on the New York Stock Exchange late yesterday.