Christopher Hohn is an intensely private individual who dislikes seeing his picture in the public domain and almost never gives interviews. He is also an indefatigable donor to charity and so can't be entirely bad. But with his latest assault on Deutsche Börse, in conjunction with fellow activist fund Atticus Capital, he is in danger of achieving the near-impossible and giving hedge funds an even worse name.

Hohn thinks the Börse board are not doing enough to create shareholder value. Yesterday's statement adds silkily that efforts on behalf of shareholders might include “seeking to change some of the members of the Supervisory Board” - that is, sacking those who do not fall in line.

A little history here. In early 2005 TCI emerged as a significant investor in the Börse and opposed an offer, at £5.30 a share, for the London Stock Exchange without this being put to shareholders. Werner Seifert, the Börse's chief executive, disagreed. He was kicked out for his pains, along with the chairman, an event unprecedented in German corporate history.

The London Stock Exchange went on to defeat several takeover bids, the last pitched at more than twice the cash on offer from the Germans. LSE shares, though they have taken a tumble, have never been anywhere near the Börse terms since. The deal would have been a transformational one, but

Mr Hohn and his pals, derided by German politicians as “locusts”, stopped it happening.

As a result, the Börse was shut out of the huge consolidation of world exchanges that saw Milan bought by London, the Scandinavians going to Nasdaq and Euronext bought by the New York Stock Exchange. Much of the underperformance of the Börse's shares is down to this.

It really does take the biscuit to see Mr Hohn and his chum at Atticus, Nat Rothschild, popping up again with the benefit of their advice on how the Börse should be run. A period of quiet reflection on their part would be more appropriate.

Their people in London were giving no idea just what they want done, just that they would like some more jam, please. Or else.

Dame Clara Furse and the rest of the LSE board must thank their lucky stars that they now have two supportive Middle East shareholders on board with a third of the shares and are therefore immune from any such heavy-handed shareholder activism from Mr Hohn and his ilk.

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