German exchange boss given the boot

FRANKFURT - Chief executive Werner Seifert is leaving Deutsche Boerse in the face of shareholder anger over a controversial bid for the London Stock Exchange, which he was forced to drop in March.

The German exchange operator announced yesterday that Seifert was leaving with immediate effect, to be followed by supervisory board chairman Rolf Breuer at the end of the year.

Both came under fire from disgruntled investors, who in March managed to block Deutsche Boerse's bid for the LSE, which they saw as too generous and strategically flawed.

Shareholders including Deutsche Boerse's largest investor, British hedge fund TCI, are unhappy with the pair's handling of the bid and their lack of openness to shareholder criticism.

TCI had put forward a motion for the annual meeting this month to remove Breuer - a figurehead in the German financial world.

After an emergency board meeting called to assess investor support for management, the company announced three further supervisory board members would also step down at an unspecified date.

The statement said Breuer would seek to replace these three "in a timely fashion" as well as Lord Levene, who resigned on April 25.

The board ordered Breuer to change the the supervisory and executive boards to reflect the new ownership structure of the company, whose shares have seen an inflow of hedge fund buyers since the LSE bid.

Breuer will seek to identify a successor for Seifert, who will be appointed by the supervisory board and will be recruited from outside the company.

In the interim, chief financial officer Mathias Hlubek would head the executive board.

Commenting on the announcement, Breuer said: "The decisions to change to the supervisory and executive boards were taken after extensive consultation with shareholders.

"In the interest of the company, we want to put an end to the recent debate with some of our shareholders."

- REUTERS