Two of the world’s most feared activist investors laid siege to the Deutsche Börse for the second time in four years yesterday as the hedge funds Atticus and TCI demanded urgent action to improve shareholder value at the Frankfurt exchange.

The two funds, which together own 19 per cent of Deutsche Börse, threatened to demand the resignation of senior executives unless the German exchange demonstrated “leadership and urgency”.

Their assault puts Kurt Viermetz, the chairman of the supervisory board, under acute pressure.

The intervention of the two firms, which triggered a 6.6 per cent jump in the Börse’s share price, marks an ominous echo of their successful campaign in 2004 to derail its audacious bid for the London Stock Exchange.

TCI, which is based in London, is run by Christopher Hohn, its publicity-shy founder and a well-known philanthropist investor. Atticus is co-chaired by Nathaniel Rothschild, the son of Lord Rothschild, and one of the Rothschild banking dynasty. Together the two firms forced the Börse to scrap its £1.3 billion bid for the LSE and ensured that Werner Seifert lost his job as chief executive.

The campaign sent a shockwave through German corporate culture and sparked revulsion among the political establishment, with Atticus, TCI and their peers described as locusts.

In the wake of its scrapped LSE bid, the Börse was shut out of much of the subsequent consolidation of exchanges. It also failed in an effort to merge with Euronext, the pan-European exchange operator, which is now owned by the New York Stock Exchange.

The funds’ renewed public interest in the running of Deutsche Börse threatens to reignite political tensions about the exchange in Germany.

In a joint statement yesterday, TCI and Atticus said that they would explore all options to improve the Börse’s ability to create shareholder value. “This may include seeking to change some of the members of the supervisory board in order to ensure leadership and urgency regarding any appropriate action,” they said.

BaFin, Germany’s financial regulator, would be informed of their position, they said, emphasising that they retained the right to raise or cut their holdings.

Deutsche Börse operates the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the derivatives platform Eurex. It also owns Clearstream, the clearing and settlement network for trades. This ownership has been criticised on monopoly grounds in the past. Sources suggested that the hedge funds were eager for a decision on whether Deutsche Börse retained or must sell Clearstream and did not mind which happened.

The Börse’s shares have fallen by more than half since last December, in part because of the threat of competition from upstart rivals including Chi-X and Turquoise.

Deutsche Börse, which is valued at €12.5 billion (£10.2 billion), declined to comment specifically on TCI and Atticus. “However, the company is in general in permanent dialogue with all of its shareholders,” it said.

It added that the exchange’s supervisory board was up for reelection next May and that Mr Viermetz had already instructed a commission to seek potential candidates. “Additionally, all shareholders have the right to also make their own proposals for candidates,” it said.

TCI is fresh from a battle with the Japanese Government after the fund was prevented from doubling its stake in J-Power, an energy group, to about 20 per cent on the ground of national security. TCI abandoned its attempt, but not before demanding that the UK Government introduce trade sanctions against Japan over its behaviour.

It emerged this week that market movements have lopped $5 billion off the value of Atticus’s funds this year.

Changes at exchanges

2001 The Paris-based Euronext buys the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (Liffe)

2001 Deutsche Börse fails to merge with the London Stock Exchange

2005 Börse fails to buy the London Stock Exchange

2006 Börse fails to merge with Euronext

2006 Euronext merges with the New York Stock Exchange

2007 The London Stock Exchange acquires Borsa Italiana, the Italian stock exchange

2007 Nasdaq buys the Scandinavian stock exchange owner OMX

Times Recommends

• Minister in talks with Saudis to protect creditors
• Premier Inn hits back in £29-a-room row
• Bankers hit back at 'populist' bonus supertax