The chairman of Hugo Boss's supervisory board has resigned after a row with Permira, the fashion company's private equity owner.

Guiseppe Vita will step down after Hugo Boss's annual meeting on May 10, according to a report in WirtschaftsWoche (BusinessWeek), the German magazine.

Mr Vita would follow Bruno Saelzer, the chairman and chief executive, and Werner Lackas, a board member, who have left the fashion company since Permira took control of the company in August 2007. It holds about 88 per cent of shares in Hugo Boss.

Mr Vita's expected departure is believed to follow a demand by Permira for a special dividend to help to repay loans of approximately €1 billion (£772 million) that it took out to buy the company.

This week Hugo Boss said that it would pay a full-year dividend of €6.45 per common share and a dividend of €6.46 per preferred share, a payout of about €450 million. Each dividend includes a €5 special dividend, which accounts for €350 million of the €450 million.

Handelsblatt, the German business newspaper, reported that Permira had won the supervisory board's approval for the €350 million special dividend only with the help of Mr Vita's two votes. All the union representatives on the board had rejected the measure, according to company sources. The private equity group is thought to be planning to ask for a similar dividend next year. Gert Bauer, who represents the IG Metall union on the supervisory board, said: “We fear [the company] will be bled in instalments. I had no choice other than to vote against it because we could not obtain conditions that would have secured the company's site.”

Mr Saelzer said last month that he was to step down “by way of amicable arrangement” against a background of “different views on the further business policy of the company”.

In response to news of Mr Vita's departure, a spokesman for Hugo Boss said: “We have no knowledge of this. I don't know anything about the plans of Mr Vita.”

In August 2007 Permira took control of 97 per cent of Valentino Fashion Group, the Italian label, for €2.6 billion, in one of the largest designer buyouts.

Permira's move on Hugo Boss last year came after Apax's $1.6 billion (£783 million) buyout of Tommy Hilfiger, the American brand, and a series of smaller designer buys, including Sciens Capital's buyout of Asprey, the jeweller, and Lion Capital's purchase of Jimmy Choo.

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