British asset management group Hermes goes to the company court on Tuesday in an effort to get takeover defences overturned which were erected by chip machinery maker ASMI last week.

ASMI is due to hold its AGM on Wednesday, at which Hermes and hedge fund Fursa plan to call for the resignation of the company’s CEO and the supervisory board.
The poison pill construction gives ASMI’s founding del Prado family and a friendly foundation a majority of voting shares, thwarting the activist shareholders.
Last year, the company court ordered engineering group Stork to withdraw a similar poison pill.