DEUTSCHE BÖRSE, one of the two potential bidders for the London Stock Exchange, has moved to head off a potentially damaging vote at next month’s annual meeting by offering concessions to rebel shareholders.

A group of investors, led by The Children’s Investment Fund (TCI) with 8 per cent of the Börse, is trying to remove the non-executive supervisory board. The rebels claim to speak for 40 per cent of the German exchange’s shares.

Christopher Hohn, managing partner of TIC, and Lord Jacob Rothschild, the veteran financier the rebels want to replace Rolf Breuer as chairman, met Werner Seifert, the chief executive, and other directors in Frankfurt yesterday.

Mr Seifert last night released the text of a letter he sent to Mr Hohn after the meeting, detailing plans for a “shareholder value enhancement programme”.

These include the creation of a ten-strong shareholder committee, drawn equally from UK, US and continental investors, with one representative from retail shareholders. Mr Seifert also proposes a range of share buybacks to return spare capital to investors.

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