Key shareholders in National Express are calling for Jorge Cosmen, the deputy chairman, to reconsider his position as tension grows between the executive and other board members.

It is understood that Mr Cosmen contacted a number of shareholders yesterday urging them to reconsider a merger with Stagecoach, the company’s rival, a move that has angered some investors.

One leading shareholder said that Mr Cosmen should review his position as deputy chairman.

“There must be some ambiguity in his position as a director. He has made a public statement of ‘no confidence’ in his fellow directors. How can he possibly stay? Discuss,” the shareholder said, while not calling directly for Mr Cosmen to resign.

The shareholder added: “He should not be attending board meetings; his views are completely at variance with those of the other directors.” He said that he agreed with the position of the National Express board that a bid for the transport group by Stagecoach raised concerns that competition regulators would intervene. The shareholder said that it was “impossible, inconceivable” that Stagecoach could complete a fully funded takeover by the end of the year.

The company faces a race to raise the £350 million required to pay down National Express’s £1.2 billion debts before the end of the year. At that time, an additional £5 million of penalty interest payments will kick in. National Express will breach its banking covenants if it cannot raise capital by the end of the year.

It was unclear last night whether the company planned to proceed with the capital-raising with a rights issue or by using a placing, which would be quicker and possibly easier if the Cosmen family decided not to subscribe to a rights issue.

Concern over Mr Cosmen’s position adds to considerable investor turmoil at National Express. Aegon, which was one of the group’s large institutional investors and its fourth-largest shareholder, sold its 3.5 per cent stake last week after the company walked away from talks with Stagecoach.

The Cosmen family, from Spain, responded angrily when National Express abandoned its merger talks on the ground that competition concerns would not allow it to complete the deal before Christmas, putting its financial restructuring in jeopardy. The Cosmens questioned the company’s direction in a public statement, saying: “We have serious concerns about the absence of a well-defined strategy to address the company’s broader long-term issues. We are concerned that there has not been a sufficiently full and thorough assessment of all the available options.” The family has also called for the appointment of new independent advisers.

Stagecoach has criticised National Express’s decision to walk away. “We believed strongly that there was good shareholder support for our value-enhancing proposal. The concerns raised by the Cosmen family reinforce our view that our proposal did not receive proper consideration,” the company said last week.

Stagecoach previously had been part of the consortium backed by CVC, the global private equity group, that offered 500p a share for the group. When that offer was rejected, Stagecoach decided to go it alone. National Express shares rose 2p to 327.1p yesterday.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive