Â鶹ӳ»­

Swiss retailer Jelmoli said on Friday that a request by a member of its management board and significant shareholder in the company is 'putting at risk' the success of a spin-off plan announced earlier this year to separate the Swiss retailer's business into separate listed real estate and investment units.

The company announced in April that it planned to implement a break-up plan following the collapse late last year of a EUR 2bn sale-and-leaseback of 88 department stores to an Israeli consortium. Its board initially agreed that a premium would be paid only to shareholder Pelham Investment that, as a result of the implementation of the plan, would give up control of the company. But Jelmoli has now been asked by its second-largest shareholder, Walter Fust, for the payment of the premium not only to Pelham Investment, but to all the shareholders.

'Fust's request puts at risk the success of the strategic plan and is detrimental to bearer shareholders,' the company said in a statement on Friday. In the event that his request is not accepted, Fust will bring the case to court, Jelmoli said. It added that the board of directors is 'not prepared' to back the request.