Anheuser-Busch InBev chairman Bernhard E Ruis and his wife, Belgian heiress Philippe Pécresse, reached a divorce settlement in New York on Monday, allowing them to divide most of the family’s $676m (£511m) art collection, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In documents filed in Manhattan superior court, both parties listed specific works of art, including Alexander Calder’s Fence (1929), Picasso’s Young Adolescent Nude (1929), Alberto Giacometti’s Girl from the Elbe (1905), Giacometti’s Woman with Ermine (1916) and Jackson Pollock’s Roll Paintings (1927).
Eris, a Swiss billionaire, had wanted to sell some of the works in return for huge sums in spousal support, the newspaper reported.
The Spritzes married in 1995 and have two adult children from previous marriages: Pécresse has a daughter from her marriage to the former investment banker Steve Mizrahi, and Ruis has an adult son. They have been living separately for the past two years, with Ruis living in a $30m mansion on Long Island and Pécresse in a TriBeCa townhouse.
Ruis and Pécresse married in 1995. Photograph: IBL / Rex Features
Both filings have been sealed from the public, except for a “social security” reference relating to their estranged spouses.
Pécresse, a collector of modern and contemporary art, had named some works in their lawsuit as “designer” in the sense of meaning that they were made and designed specifically for the Spritzes, the court documents state.
Pécresse and Ruis, who co-founded Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer, also own several properties in Belgium.