The businessman once described as Africa's youngest billionaire could be forced to sell his £160,000 ticket to space to pay off his wife in their High Court divorce battle.

Computer parts seller Ashish Thakkar, 35, and travel journalist Meera Manek, 33, who separated in 2013 after four years of marriage, are due in court next week.

Mr Thakkar claims he only has £445,532 to his name but Miss Manek says he is a billionaire and is hiding the assets offshore to stop her getting her hands on them.

Ashish Thakkar (pictured bottom), once described as Africa's youngest billionaire, could be forced to sell his £160,000 ticket to space to pay off his wife in their High Court divorce battle

Mr Thakkar, who was born in Leicester but grew up in east Africa, was one of the first people to buy a ticket for Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space flight.

But the first flight has not yet taken off after testing delays meaning Mr Thakkar is eligible for a full refund.

A source told The Daily Telegraph: 'The Virgin Galactic flight will be discussed in court.'

'It is an asset Ashish still holds and will be considered as part of the investigation into his total wealth.

'Meera will demand the cost of the ticket be counted in his assets. She could demand he cashes it in.'

The Sunday Times Rich List estimated Mr Thakkar's wealth at £500 million in 2015 but did not list him in 2016.

The High Court will decide how much Mr Thakkar is worth over the course of a five-day hearing beginning on Monday.

A further trial will then decide how much Miss Manek should receive.

Meera Manek, 33, who separated from Mr Thakkar in 2013 after four years of marriage, says he is hiding money from her

Mr Thakkar lost an opening skirmish in July when Mr Justice Moor ruled that the pair should not finalise a divorce until decisions had been made on how much Miss Manek should get.

The businessman has said the divorce should be finalised but Miss Manek said it should not be finalised until decisions on the division of money had been made.

In the Family Division of the High Court in London Mr Justice Moor ruled in her favour. The judge said Miss Manek might be at a disadvantage if she was fighting as an ex-wife rather than a wife.

Mr Thakkar's parents had been forced to leave Uganda in the early 1970s to escape Idi Amin's exile of the 'non-African community'.

They had lost everything and 'started again' in the UK, working in factories then starting their own business, lawyers said.

Mr Thakkar was born in Leicester in 1981.

His family had returned to Africa in 1993 and settled in Rwanda - shortly before hundreds of thousands were killed in a genocide.

Mr Thakkar lost an opening skirmish in July when Mr Justice Moor ruled that the pair should not finalise a divorce until decisions had been made on how much Miss Manek should get

The judge was told that Mr Thakkar had left school at 15 with no qualifications and started to trade in computer hardware after his parents lent him about £3,500.

Mr Francis said Mr Thakkar had 'joined forces' with his parents and other family members to create a collection of companies known as the Mara Group.

But Mr Francis said Mr Thakkar did not own shares in the Mara Group holding company.

He said shares were owned by Mr Thakkar's mother and sister.

The judge heard that the 'beneficial ownership' of the holding company was 'hotly disputed'.

Mr Francis said Mr Thakkar was a 'driving force' for social and economic change in Africa and had set up a 'social enterprise' to support entrepreneurs in developing countries.

Neither Mr Thakkar's nor Ms Manek's lawyers have commented.

Mr Thakkar is chairman of the United Nations Foundation global entrepreneurs council and founded the Mara Foundation in 2009, which serves as an online mentorship portal for young African entrepreneurs.

Three years ago he was appointed to the advisory board of technology company Dell.

In 2013, he became the first African to be named in Fortune magazine's annual 40 under 40 list, with total assets said to be in excess of $1bn and employees across 21 African countries.