A pair of hedge funds have forced the chairman of French information technology company Atos Origin to resign, in the first development of its kind since activists pushed out the chairman and chief executive of German exchange group Deutsche Börse three years ago.

The hedge funds, Centaurus Capital of the UK and Pardus Capital Management of the US, said in a joint statement with the company that Jean-Philippe Thierry, chairman and chief executive of French insurer AGF, had joined Atos Origin's supervisory board as chairman.