As stock exchange bust-up grows, hedge fund claims... Five City chiefs were ousted by LSE chairman

LOnDOn Stock exchange chairman Donald Brydon has a toxic track record and must be fired before he causes more havoc, a top investor has warned.

Brydon has fired several chief executives at different firms and no one talented will work with him, hedge fund boss Sir Chris Hohn said.

Hohn is furious with the 72-year-old for forcing out LSe chief executive Xavier rolet, and has mounted a campaign to get the chairman sacked.

Shareholders are to decide on the future of Brydon, right, at a crunch vote this month which was called by Hohn, 51.

in a scathing note setting out his case, Hohn said Brydon had ousted five bosses before rolet became his latest victim.

He said Brydon was a board member at the LSe when Michael Lawrence was ditched as chief executive in 1996 – a sacking that stunned the City.

Brydon then sat on the boards of allied Domecq and Scottish power when they ditched bosses tony Hales and ian russell respectively. at allied Domecq, the split was so acrimonious that Hales sued for £2m.

as chairman of the engineering firm Smiths group, Brydon then axed Keith Butler-Wheelhouse.

all three of these bosses were replaced by break-up guru philip Bowman, famed for carving up companies for a profit.

Brydon’s next victim was guy Berruyer, of Sage group. analysts said he quit in 2014 because they didn’t see eye to eye.

Hohn’s note said: ‘Donald Brydon has run a poor process with regard to chief executive succession and shareholder engagement. Shareholders have lost faith in Donald Brydon. it would be difficult to find a world-class chief executive to serve under Donald Brydon.’

rolet revealed he would quit in October after failing to sell the LSe to the germans for £21bn.

But Hohn, who owns a 5pc stake, objected to the decision and sought to reverse it, demanding shareholders vote to sack Brydon instead. the standoff only ended weeks later when Bank of england governor Mark Carney said he couldn’t see a way for rolet to stay on. rolet stepped down immediately.

Sources close to Brydon said all five firms’ shares outperformed the market when he was a director. the LSe declined to comment. its shares rose by 0.1pc, or 4p, to 3787p.