Engineering group Stork, under siege from two hedge funds which want to split the company up, have accused Centaurus and Paulson of breaking bourse rules for not making their campaign known to the financial services authority AFM, the Telegraaf reports.

The two hedge funds own around a third of Stork. Stork now wants a preliminary legal hearing to see if there is a case to answer, in which case it will consider taking proper legal action against the funds.