Rebel Deutsche Boerse shareholders are lining up veteran banker Jacob Rothschild to replace Rolf Breuer as chairman of the Frankfurt stock market operator, newspapers here said Sunday. Atticus Capital, a US-based hedge fund which has a five percent-plus stake in Deutsche Boerse, is leading the campaign to have Breuer ousted because of the fund's opposition to Deutsche Boerse's bid to take-over the London Stock Exchange (LSE), The Sunday Telegraph reported.

Atticus, whose president is Rothschild's son Nat, is along with fellow rebel The Children's Investment fund (TCI) planning to call an emergency general meeting to oust Deutsche Boerse's supervisory board and in turn dismiss the operator's chief executive Werner Seifert, the paper added.

Press reports have added that Deutsche Boerse shareholders who oppose or are critical of the LSE bid control 30 percent of the Frankfurt operator's capital. If a vote is taken in May at a regularly scheduled assembly they would need only to pass the 50 percent threshold to derail the project.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005